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Submitted by (lucia.rodrigues@ufrpe.br) on 2016-05-23T14:49:01Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Bruno Oliveira Ferreira de Souza.pdf: 1374739 bytes, checksum: 210e4bdc1715b5995117487fc1929cf5 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-05-23T14:49:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Bruno Oliveira Ferreira de Souza.pdf: 1374739 bytes, checksum: 210e4bdc1715b5995117487fc1929cf5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-05-23 / Retinal degenerations are the major causes of blindness in the world, and the Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is the most important. The AMD is a slow and progressive disease with multi-factorial causes. The oxidative stress caused by light exposure is the major risk factor for this disease. Although there is no cure, dietary supplementation with ω-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (ω-3 LCPUFAs) is indicated for reduction of disease progression. The purpose of our study is evaluate the effects of dietary supplementation with ω-3 LCPUFAs in albino mice (SWISS) subjected to medium intensity light exposure. The animals were fed with a diet enriched with ω-3 LCPUFAs and exposed to white light (3000LUX) for 12 hours, and then evaluated at periods of 0, 7, 14, 21, 30, 60 and 90 days after exposure. Mice fed with a commercial diet served as controls. The retinal morphology, outer nuclear layer thickness, Retinal Pigmented Epithelium (EPR) cell number, presence and activation of microglial cells, PEDF immunolocalization, presence of apoptotic cells and retina neovascularization. Our results indicated that immediately after light exposure, supplemented animals had attenuated lesions compared to the control group. However, in subsequent periods, supplemented groups showed lesions similar or even more pronounced as the control group. These results suggest that ω-3 LCPUFAs have a dual effect on the retina, exerting an initial neuroprotection, and then exhibiting a deleterious effect to the retina. / As degenerações retinianas são a maior causa de cegueira no mundo, sendo a Degeneração Macular Associada à Idade (DMAI) a mais importante. A DMAI é uma doença de caráter lento, progressivo e de causas multifatoriais. O estresse oxidativo causado pela exposição à luz é o principal fator de risco para esta enfermidade. Embora não haja cura, a suplementação dietética com ácidos graxos polinsaturados de cadeia longa ω-3 (ω-3 LCPUFAs) é indicada para a redução da progressão da doença. O presente estudo tem como objetivo avaliar os efeitos da suplementação dietética com ω-3 LCPUFAs em camundongos albinos (SWISS) submetidos à exposição à luz de média intensidade. Os animais foram suplementados com dieta rica em ω-3 LCPUFAs e expostos à luz branca (3000LUX) por 12 horas, e em seguida avaliados nos períodos de 0, 7, 14, 21, 30, 60 e 90 dias após a exposição. Camundongos alimentados com ração comercial serviram como controle. Os grupos foram avaliados quanto a morfologia da retina, espessura da camada nuclear externa, número de células do Epitélio Pigmentar da Retina (EPR), presença e ativação de micróglias, imunolocalização de PEDF, presença de células em apoptose e neovascularizações. Nossos resultados indicaram que imediatamente após a exposição à luz, os animais suplementados tiveram alterações atenuadas em relação ao grupo controle. Entretanto, nos períodos seguintes, os grupos suplementados apresentaram lesões equivalentes ou até mesmo mais acentuadas em relação ao grupo controle. Estes resultados sugerem que os ω-3 LCPUFAs possuem um efeito dual sobre a retina, exercendo uma neuroproteção inicial e, e em seguida, atuando de maneira nociva.

Sn2P2S6 is ferroelectric at room temperature. It is of technological interest in a variety of applications such as pyroelectric motion detectors and the photorefractive effect. Until now the defect structure and the light-induced charge transfer processes in this material have not been subject of a detailed investigation. The main part of this thesis describes and interprets data of electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), optical absorption spectroscopy and their combination at 10 K to unravel the light-induced sensitization and charge transfer paths. In the photosensitized crystal at excitation with 1.5 eV a hole is transferred from a previously generated Sn3(plus) site to another inequivalent site of the ferroelectric phase. For higher excitation energies another hole present as Fe3(plus) is transferred to S2- creating S-. Optical absorption spectroscopy at room temperature indicates the validity of this model for evelated temperature below the Curie-temperature as well. It is consistent with both our interpretation of EPR spectra and the observation of photoinduced persistent conductivity that electronic bipolarons are the negative charge carriers. An additional chapter interprets a manifestation of pyroelectric luminescence already reported in other pyroelectric materials in terms of an internal Poole-Frenkel-effect induced by the pyroelectric field under changing temperature. The numerical simulation based on published material parameters is in good agreement with the experimental data for both heating and cooling.

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The objective of the research in this thesis is to develop manufacturable high-efficiency silicon solar cells at low-cost through advanced cell design and technological innovations using industrially feasible processes and equipment on commercial grade Czochralski (Cz) large-area (239 cm2) silicon wafers. This is accomplished by reducing both the electrical and optical losses in solar cells through fundamental understanding, applied research and demonstrating the success by fabricating large-area commercial ready cells with much higher efficiency than the traditional Si cells. By developing and integrating multiple efficiency enhancement features, namely low-cost high sheet resistance homogeneous emitter, optimized surface passivation, optimized rear reflector, back line contacts, and improved screen-printing with narrow grid lines, 20.8% efficient screen-printed PERC (passivated emitter and rear cell) solar cells were achieved on commercial grade 239 cm2 p-type Cz silicon wafers.

This thesis describes the design, construction and optimisation of two compact setups to produce ⁸⁷Rb Bose-Einstein condensates and dual ⁷Li-⁸⁷Rb Magneto- Optical Traps (MOTs). The motivation for compact systems is to have simplified systems to cool the atoms. The first experimental setup is based on a single pyrex glass cell without the need for atom chips. Fast evaporation will be achieved in a hybrid trap comprising of a magnetic quadrupole trap and an optical dipole trap created by a Nd:YVO4 laser and with future plans of using a Spatial Light Modulator (SLM). To enhance an efficient and rapid evaporation, we have investigated Light-Induced Atomic Desorption (LIAD) to modulate the Rb partial pressure during the cooling and trapping stage. With this technique, a ⁸⁷Rb MOT of 7 x 10⁷ atoms was loaded by shining violet light from a LED source into the glass cell, whose walls are coated with rubidium atoms. The atoms were then cooled by optical molasses and then loaded into a magnetic trap where lifetime measurements demonstrated that LIAD improves on magnetically-trapped atoms loaded from constant background pressure by a factor of six. This is quite encouraging and opens the possibility to do a rapid evaporation. In a second experiment, we have designed a compact system based on a stainless steel chamber to trap either ⁷Li or ⁶Li atoms in a MOT loaded from alkali-metal dispensers without the need of conventional oven-Zeeman slower. This setup can also load ⁸⁷Rb atoms, allowing future projects to simultaneously produce degenerate quantum gases of bosonic ⁸⁷Rb and fermionic ⁶Li atoms.

This Thesis contains details of the construction and characterisation of a compact apparatus for the cooling of ultracold atoms to quantum degeneracy, and their manipulation in flexible holographic optical traps. We have designed and built two iterations of this apparatus. The first version consists of a stainless steel single-cell vacuum chamber, in which we confine ⁸⁷Rb and ⁶Li or ⁷Li in a Magneto-Optical Trap. We characterise the alternative methods of pulsed atomic dispenser and Light Induced Atomic Desorption (LIAD) to rapidly vary the background pressure in the vacuum chamber with the view to enabling efficient evaporative cooling in the single chamber, loading MOTs of up to 10⁸ atoms using pulsed dispensers. The LIAD is found to be ineffective in loading large MOTs in this setup, while the pulsed dispensers method gradually increases the background pressure in the chamber over time. Based on the results of this first iteration, we designed and built a second single-chamber apparatus for cooling of ⁸⁷Rb to quantum degeneracy. The LIAD technique was used to successfully load MOTs containing 8x10⁷ atoms in this single pyrex cell with a rapidly-varying background pressure. The lifetime of an atomic cloud loaded from the MOT into a magnetic trap increased by a factor of 6 when LIAD was used. The holographic optical traps for cold atoms are generated using a Spatial Light Modulator, and we present our novel method for improving the quality of holographic light patterns to the point where they are suitable for trapping ultracold atoms using a feedback algorithm. As demonstrations of this new capability, we show power-law optical traps which provide an efficient, reversible route to Bose-Einstein Condensation and a dynamic ring trap for the investigation of superfluidity in cold atoms.

This thesis focuses on two topics: thermal limitations of volume Bragg gratings (VBGs) employed as laser-cavity mirrors and formation of color centers in KTiOPO4 and its isomorphs. To explore the mechanisms of the thermal limitations of VBGs in high power lasers, I designed and constructed a diode-pumped, solid‑state laser with a VBG as cavity mirror that had a significantly higher absorption than what is typical. Thereby I could study the limiting thermal effects by using only moderate intra-cavity power. Additionally, I designed a computer model to numerically investigate the thermal effects in VBGs. Both the experiments and the simulations showed that the laser became successively more unstable when the power was increased. Absorption of the reflected laser beam causes broadening of the grating spectrum accompanied by decreasing diffraction efficiency. The reduced reflectivity leads to a leakage of the radiation through the grating. Moreover, the simulations showed that this increased instability was due to a reshaping of the intensity distribution profile inside the grating, which, in turn, leads to a sharp reduction of the diffraction efficiency. High-intensity visible radiation induces color centers in KTiOPO4, which can lead to severe decrease in the performance of the crystal and can cause catastrophic breakdown. The formation of color centers was investigated by measuring picosecond, blue-light induced infrared absorption (BLIIRA) in periodically-poled KTiOPO4, Rb:KTiOPO4, RbTiOPO4, KTiOAsO4 and RbTiOAsO4 through thermal lens spectroscopy using a common-path interferometer. This setup is capable of measuring absorption as low as 10-5 cm-1. The dependence of the BLIIRA signal on blue light average power and intensity as well as on the crystal temperature was studied. The results show the presence of at least two different types of color centers. A higher level of remnant absorption was observed in the phosphates compared to that of the arsenates. The largest portion of the induced absorption is attributed to photo-generated electrons and holes being self-trapped in the proximity to the Ti4+ and O2- ions, respectively, forming polaron color centers. Stabilization of these centers is aided by the presence of mobile alkali metal vacancies in the crystal. / Denna avhandling fokuserar på både volymbraggitters (VBGs) termiska begränsningar, i tillämpning som speglar i laserkaviteter, och på bildandet av färgcentra i KTiOPO4 och isomorfa kristaller. För att undersöka de termiska effekterna i VBGer som medför begränsningar på högeffektlasrar utfördes både experiment och simuleringar. För experimenten konstruerades en diod-pumpad Yb:KYW laser med ett VBG som har betydligt högre absorption än vad som är typiskt. Därmed kunde de termiska effekterna studeras vid måttliga intrakavitetseffekter. Simuleringarna bestod av två delmodeller; gitterstrukturen modelerades med överföringsmatriser och värmeflödet med en tredimensionell modell baserad på finita elementmetoden. Både experimenten och simuleringarna visade att en laser blir successivt mer instabil när den optiska effekten ökar. Absorptionen av laserstrålen i VBGt förändrade dess spektrala egenskaper, vilket i sin tur påverkade laserns stabilitet och prestanda. De huvudsakliga effekterna var en breddning av gittrets spektrum med en minskad reflektans. Simuleringarna visade även att den ökade instabiliteten berodde på en förändring av strålningens intensitetsfördelning inuti gittret, vilket accelererade reduktionen av gittrets reflekterande förmåga. I termer av den effekt som faller in mot gittret, har lasern en tydlig övre effektgräns. När den gränsen har uppnåtts leder vidare ökning av pumpeffekten i huvudsak till ökat läckage genom volymbraggittret, i stället för till ökad uteffekt hos laserstrålen. Kortvågigt synlig ljus av hög intensitet inducerar färgcentra i KTiOPO4, vilket kan leda till kraftigt reducerad transparens och kan orsaka permanent skada i kristallen. För att undersöka skapandet av dessa färgcentra mättes den termiska lins som uppstår vid blå-ljus-inducerad infraröd absorption (Eng: blue-light induced infrared absorption = BLIIRA) inducerad av blåa laserpulser vid en våglängd av 398 nm och vid pulslängder i storlek av pikosekunder i periodiskt‑polad KTiOPO4, Rb:KTiOPO4, RbTiOPO4, KTiOAsO4 och RbTiOAsO4. Den termiska linsen mättes med en metod kallad gemensam-vägsträcka-interferometer (Eng: common-path interferometer), en metod känslig nog för att mäta absorption så låg som 10-5 cm-1. Dessutom undersöktes hur nivån av BLIIRA beror på medeleffekten och intensiteten hos den blåa laserstrålen samt på kristalltemperaturen. Resultaten visar att det bildas minst två typer av färgcentra med olika livslängder. Vidare observerades en högre grad av långsamt avklingande absorption i fosfaterna jämfört med arsenaterna. Den största delen av den inducerade absorptionen tillskrivs fotogenererade elektroner och hål som ”självfångas” i närheten av Ti4+ respektive O2- joner, och bildar färgcentra av polaron karaktär. Stabilisering av dessa centra underlättas av lättrörliga alkalivakanser i kristallerna. / <p>QC 20150922</p>

This thesis focuses on the effects of dopant compensation on the electrical properties of crystalline silicon relevant to the operation of solar cells. We show that the control of the net dopant density, which is essential to the fabrication of high-efficiency solar cells, is very challenging in ingots crystallized with silicon feedstock containing both boron and phosphorus such as upgraded metallurgical-grade silicon. This is because of the strong segregation of phosphorus which induces large net dopant density variations along directionally solidified silicon crystals. To overcome this issue, we propose to use gallium co-doping during crystallization, and demonstrate its potential to control the net dopant density along p-type and n-type silicon ingots grown with silicon containing boron and phosphorus. The characteristics of the resulting highly-compensated material are identified to be: a strong impact of incomplete ionization of dopants on the majority carrier density, an important reduction of the mobility compared to theoretical models and a recombination lifetime which is determined by the net dopant density and dominated after long-term illumination by the boron-oxygen recombination centre. To allow accurate modelling of upgraded-metallurgical silicon solar cells, we propose a parameterization of these fundamental properties of compensated silicon. We study the light-induced lifetime degradation in p-type and n-type Si with a wide range of dopant concentrations and compensation levels and show that the boron-oxygen defect is a grown-in complex involving substitutional boron and is rendered electrically active upon injection of carriers through a charge-driven reconfiguration of the defect. Finally, we apply gallium co-doping to the crystallization of upgraded-metallurgical silicon and demonstrate that it allows to significantly increase the tolerance to phosphorus without compromising neither the ingot yield nor the solar cells performance before light-induced degradation.

The main purpose of this thesis was to find ways to maintain a low level of light‐induceddiscolouration at an increased addition of mechanical and chemimechanical pulps in coated highqualityfine paper and magazine paper grades. Current technology allows the production of highyieldpulps such as thermomechanical and chemimechanical pulps with properties suitable formanufacturing high‐quality paper or paperboard with a low basis weight. Coating of woodcontainingpaper will probably be necessary for photo‐stability reasons if lignin‐containing pulps areto be used as the main fibre furnish in long‐life and high‐value products.In order to find the most suitable pulp for this purpose, light‐induced discolouration of a variety ofpaper samples from unbleached and bleached softwood and hardwood pulps was studied under bothaccelerated and long‐term ambient light‐induced ageing conditions. Hardwood high‐yield pulps,especially aspen pulps, were proven to be more photo‐stable compared to softwood pulps. Hardwoodpulps should therefore be the first choice for applications where a high permanence is desirable.Evaluating ageing characteristics using the CIELAB colour system showed that accelerated ageingconditions tend to mainly increase the b* value and decrease the L* value (i.e. yellow the pulp),whereas long‐term ambient ageing also increases the a* value, which makes the pulp more reddish.A new method for studying the influence of the UV‐screening properties of coating layers on abase paper was developed, and used to investigate the effect of pigment, pigment size distribution,binder and UV‐absorbing additives. The coat weight and pigment type were found to be the mostimportant factors for reducing the transmittance of UV‐radiation. Coating colours containing kaolinpigments had a lower UV‐transmittance than calcium carbonate pigments. Of the calcium carbonates,precipitated calcium carbonates were better than ground calcium carbonates and the difference wasgreater at higher coat weights. The particle size distribution should preferable be narrow. When thebest pigment (bleached kaolin) and the best binder (styrene butadiene latex) were combined withtitanium dioxide, the UV‐transmittance could be reduced by about 90% at a coat weight of ~10 g/m2.At a coat weight close to 20 g/m2, the transmittance was close to zero. This shows that it is possible tomore or less fully protect a double coated base paper from harmful UV‐radiation, when the coatinglayer has an optimum composition for that purpose. A prerequisite to reach so far is that the coatinglayer has an even coat weight.