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<p>The fiber-to-the-x (FTTX) has been widely investigated as a leading access technology to meet the ever growing demand for bandwidth in the last mile. The passive optical network (PON) provides a cost-effective and durable solution. In this thesis, we investigate different aspects of the PON, in the search for cost-effective and high-performance designs of link system and devices.</p> <p>In Chapter 2, we propose a novel upstream link scheme for optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OOFDM)-PON. The colorless laser diodes are used at the optical network units (ONUs), and the overlapped channel spectrum of orthogonal subcarrier multiplexing provides high spectral efficiency. At the optical line terminal (OLT), optical switch and all optical fast Fourier transform (OFFT) are adopted for high speed demultiplexing. The deterioration caused by the laser perturbation is also investigated.</p> <p>In Chapter 3, we design a novel polarization beam splitter (PBS), which is one of the most important components in polarization-controlled optical systems, e.g. the next-generation PON utilizing polarization multiplexing. Our PBS is built on a slab waveguide platform where the light is vertically confined. Planar lenses are formed to collimate and refocus light beam by converting the phase front of the beam. A planar subwavelength grating of a wedge shape induces the form birefringence, where the transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) waves have different effective refractive indices, and are steered to distinct directions. This design provides low insertion loss (< 0.9 dB) and low crosstalk (< -30 dB) for a bandwidth of 100 nm in a compact size, and can be realized by different material systems for easy fabrication and/or monolithic integration with other optical components.</p> <p>In Chapter 4, we study the mode partition noise (MPN) characteristics of the Fabry-Perot (FP) laser diode using the time-domain simulation of noise-driven multi-mode laser rate equation. FP laser is cheaper than the widely used distributed feedback (DFB) laser diode in PON, but its MPN is the major limiting factor in an optical transmission system. We calculate the probability density functions for each longitudinal mode. We also investigate the k-factor, which is a simple yet important measure of MPN. The sources of the k-factor are studied with simulation, including the intrinsic source of the laser Langevin noise, and the extrinsic source of the bit pattern.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

In biosensors, printing involves the transfer of materials, proteins or cells to a substrate. It offers many capabilities thatcan be utilized in many applications, including rapid deposition and patterning of proteins or other biomolecules.However, issues such as stability when using biomaterials are very common. Using proteins, enzymes, as biomaterialink require immobilizations and modifications due to changing in the structural conformation of the enzymes, whichleads to changes in the properties of the enzyme such as enzymatic activity, during the printing procedures andrequirements such as solvent solutions. In this project, an innovative approach for the fabrication of proteinmicroparticles based on cross-linking interchange reaction is presented to increase the stability in different solvents.The idea is to decrease the contact area between the enzymes and the surrounding environment and also preventconformation changes by using protein microparticles as an immobilization technique for the enzymes. The theory isbased on using a cross-linking reagent trigging the formation of intermolecular bonds between adjacent proteinmolecules leading to assembly of protein molecules within a CaCO3 template into a microparticle structure. TheCaCO3 template is removed by changing the solution pH to 5.0, leaving behind pure highly homogenous proteinmicroparticles with a size of 2.4 ± 0.2 μm, according to SEM images, regardless of the incubation solvents. Theenzyme model used is Horse Radish Peroxidase (HRP) with Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) and Glutaraldehyde (GL)as a cross-linking reagent. Furthermore, a comparison between the enzymatic activity of the free HRP and the BSAHRPprotein microparticles in buffer and different solvents are obtained using Michaelis-Menten Kinetics bymeasuring the absorption of the blue product produced by the enzyme-substrate interaction using a multichannelspectrophotometer with a wavelength of 355 nm. 3,3’,5,5’-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) was used as substrate. As aresult, the free HRP show an enzymatic activity variation up to ± 50 % after the incubation in the different solventswhile the protein microparticles show much less variation which indicate a stability improvement. Moreover, printingthe microparticles require high microparticle concentration due to contact area decreasing. However, usingmicroparticles as a bioink material prevent leakage/diffusion problem that occurs when using free protein instead.

Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais / The SNABP [40SiO2.30Na2CO3.1Al2O3.25B2O3.PbO2 (mol%)] glass system, nanostructured with PbS Quantum Dots (QDs) and/or doped with Er3+ ions, was successfully synthesized by the Fusion Method, when it was subjected to appropriate thermal annealing. The glass transition temperatures (Tg) were obtained by Differential Thermal Analyze (DTA), in which it was possible to define a suitable temperature to be used in the thermal annealing of the synthesized samples. As results of these thermal annealing, the formation and growth of PbS QDs have occurred in the glass environment. The optical properties of samples were investigated by Optical Absorption (OA), Photoluminescence (PL), and Photoluminescence with Temporal Resolution (PLTR). Moreover, the Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and X-Ray Diffractometry were employed in study of morphological and structural properties of samples, respectively. The size dispersions of PbS QDs were determined from OA spectra. Once using both the Method and OA data, it was also possible to estimate the average diameters of these nanoparticles, which grow with the increase in annealing time. The characteristic transitions of Er3+ ions were clearly identified in OA spectra. In addition, it was observed that the increase in annealing time of samples had provoked amplification in the overlapping between PL bands of both the PbS QDs and Er3+ ions, as well as with the absorption 4I15/2 -> 4I13/2 of these ions. Thus, the PLTR measurements have confirmed the decrease in lifetime of the 4I13/2 level (of Er3+ ions), with the amplification in the overlapping of PL emissions. Finally, as a main result of this work, it was proved that the SNABP glass system, nanostructured with PbS QDs and doped with Er3+ ions, displays to be quite favorable to the radiative energy transfer process (from PbS QDs to Er3+ ions), as well as the occurrence of stimulated emission of 4I13/2 level. / O sistema vítreo SNABP [40SiO2.30Na2CO3.1Al2O3.25B2O3.PbO2 (mol%)] nanoestruturado com pontos quânticos (PQs) de PbS e/ou dopados com íons Er3+ foi sintetizado com sucesso pelo Método de Fusão, quando submetido a tratamentos térmicos apropriados. As temperaturas de transição vítrea (Tg) foram obtidas por Análise Térmica Diferencial (DTA), em que foi possível definir uma temperatura adequada para ser utilizada nos tratamentos térmicos das amostras sintetizadas. Como resultados desses tratamentos térmicos, a formação e crescimento dos PQs de PbS ocorreram no ambiente vítreo. As propriedades ópticas das amostras foram investigadas por Absorção Óptica (AO), Fotoluminescência (PL) e Fotoluminescência com Resolução Temporal (PLRT). Além disso, a Microscopia de Força Atômica (AFM) e Difratometria de Raios-X (DRX) foram empregadas no estudo das propriedades morfológicas e estruturais das amostras, respectivamente. As dispersões de tamanho dos PQs de PbS foram determinadas a partir dos espectros de AO. Com a utilização do Método e os dados de AO, foi também possível estimar os diâmetros médios dessas nanopartículas, que aumentaram com o aumento no tempo de tratamento térmico. As transições características dos íons Er3+ foram claramente identificadas nos espectros de AO. Em adição, foi observado que o aumento no tempo de tratamento das amostras provocou um aumento na sobreposição entre as bandas de PL dos PQs de PbS e dos íons Er3+, bem como com a absorção 4I15/2 -> 4I13/2 desses íons. Assim, as medidas de PLRT confirmaram o decréscimo no tempo de vida do nível 4I13/2 (dos íons Er3+) com o aumento dessa sobreposição das emissões de PL. Finalmente, como principal resultado deste trabalho, foi comprovado que o sistema vítreo SNABP nanoestruturado com PQs de PbS dopados com íons Er3+ mostrou-se bastante favorável ao processo de transferência de energia radiativa (dos PQs de PbS para os íons Er3+), bem como a ocorrência da emissão estimulada do nível 4I13/2. / Mestre em Física

<div>Inorganic metal chalcogenide materials are of great importance in the semiconducting field for various electronic applications such as photovoltaics, thermoelectrics, sensors, and many others. Compared to traditional vacuum processing routes, solution processing provides an alternate cost-effective route to synthesize these inorganic materials through its ease of synthesis and device fabrication, higher material utilization, mild processing conditions, and opportunity for roll-to-roll manufacturing. One such versatile solution chemistry involving a mixture of amine and thiol species has evolved in the past few years as a common solvent for various precursor dissolutions including metal salts, metal oxides, elemental metals, and chalcogens.</div><div><br></div><div>The amine-thiol solvent system has been used by various researchers for the fabrication of inorganic materials, but without the complete understanding of the chemistry involved in this system, utilizing its full potential, and overcoming any inherent limitations will be difficult. So, to identify the organometallic complexes and their reaction pathways, the precursor dissolutions in amine-thiol solutions, specifically for elemental metals like Cu, In and chalcogens like Se, Te were studied using X-ray absorption, nuclear magnetic resonance, infrared, and Raman spectroscopy along with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry techniques. These analyses suggested the formation of metal thiolate complexes in the solution with the release of hydrogen gas in the case of metal dissolutions confirming irreversibility of the dissolution. Insights gained for chalcogen dissolutions confirmed the formation of different species like monoatomic or polyatomic clusters when different amine-thiol pair is used for dissolution. Results from these analyses also identified the role of each component in the dissolution which allowed for tuning of the solutions by isolating the complexes to reduce their reactivity and corrosivity for commercial applications.</div><div><br></div><div>After identifying complexes in metal dissolution for Cu and In metals, the decomposition pathway for these complexes was studied using X-ray diffraction and gas chromatography mass spectrometry techniques which confirmed the formation of phase pure metal chalcogenide material with a release of volatile byproducts like hydrogen sulfide and thiirane. This allowed for the fabrication of impurity-free thin-film Cu(In,Ga)S2 material for use in photovoltaic applications. The film fabrication with reduced carbon impurity achieved using this solvent system yielded a preliminary promising efficiency beyond 12% for heavy alkali-free, low bandgap CuInSe2 material. Along with promising devices, by utilizing the understanding of the chalcogen complexation, a new method for CuInSe2 film fabrication was developed with the addition of selenide precursors and elemental selenium which enabled first-ever fabrication of a solution-processed CuInSe2 thin film with thickness above 2 μm and absence of any secondary fine-grain layer.</div><div><br></div><div>Along with thin-film fabrication, a room temperature synthesis route for lead chalcogenide materials (PbS, PbSe, PbTe) with controlled size, shape, crystallinity, and composition of nanoparticle self-assemblies was demonstrated. Micro-assemblies formed via this route, especially the ones with hollow-core morphology were subjected to a solution-based anion and cation exchange to introduced desired foreign elements suitable for improving the thermoelectric properties of the material. Adopting from traditional hot injection and heat up synthesis routes, a versatile synthesis procedure for various binary, ternary, and quaternary metal chalcogenide (sulfide and sulfoselenide) nanoparticles from elemental metals like Cu, Zn, Sn, In, Ga, and Se was developed. This new synthesis avoids the incorporation of impurities like O, Cl, I, Br arising from a traditional metal oxide, halide, acetate, or other similar metal salt precursors giving an opportunity for truly impurity-free colloidal metal chalcogenide nanoparticle synthesis.</div>

The widespread adoption of photonic circuits requires the economics of volume manufacturing offered by integration technology. A Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor compatible silicon material platform is particularly attractive because it leverages the huge investment that has been made in silicon electronics and its high index contrast enables tight confinement of light which decreases component footprint and energy consumption. Nevertheless, there remain challenges to the development of photonic integrated circuits. Although the density of integration is advancing steady and the integration of the principal components – waveguides, optical sources and amplifiers, modulators, and photodetectors – have all been demonstrated, the integration density is low and the device library far from complete. The integration density is low primarily because of the difficulty of confining light in structures small compared to the wavelength which measured in micrometers. The device library is incomplete because of the immaturity of hybridisation on silicon of other materials required by active devices such as III-V semiconductor alloys and ferroelectric oxides and the difficulty of controlling the coupling of light between disparate material platforms. Metamaterials are nanocomposite materials which have optical properties not readily found in Nature that are defined as much by their geometry as their constituent materials. This offers the prospect of the engineering of materials to achieve integrated components with enhanced functionality. Metamaterials are a class of photonic crystals includes subwavelength grating waveguides, which have already provided breakthroughs in component performance yet require a simpler fabrication process compatible with current minimum feature size limitations. The research reported in this PhD thesis advances our understanding of the structure-property relations of key planar light circuit components and the metamaterial engineering of these properties. The analysis and simulation of components featuring structures that are only just subwavelength is complicated and consumes large computer resources especially when a three dimensional analysis of components structured over a scale larger than the wavelength is desired. This obstructs the iterative design-simulate cycle. An abstraction is required that summarises the properties of the metamaterial pertinent to the larger scale while neglecting the microscopic detail. That abstraction is known as homogenisation. It is possible to extend homogenisation from the long-wavelength limit up to the Bragg resonance (band edge). It is found that a metamaterial waveguide is accurately modeled as a continuous medium waveguide provided proper account is taken of the emergent properties of the homogenised metamaterial. A homogenised subwavelength grating waveguide structure behaves as a strongly anisotropic and spatially dispersive material with a c-axis normal to the layers of a one dimensional multi-layer structure (Kronig-Penney) or along the axis of uniformity for a two dimensional photonic crystal in three dimensional structure. Issues with boundary effects in the near Bragg resonance subwavelength are avoided either by ensuring the averaging is over an extensive path parallel to boundary or the sharp boundary is removed by graded structures. A procedure is described that enables the local homogenised index of a graded structure to be determined. These finding are confirmed by simulations and experiments on test circuits composed of Mach-Zehnder interferometers and individual components composed of regular nanostructured waveguide segments with different lengths and widths; and graded adiabatic waveguide tapers. The test chip included Lüneburg micro-lenses, which have application to Fourier optics on a chip. The measured loss of each lens is 0.72 dB. Photonic integrated circuits featuring a network of waveguides, modulators and couplers are important to applications in RF photonics, optical communications and quantum optics. Modal phase error is one of the significant limitations to the scaling of multimode interference coupler port dimension. Multimode interference couplers rely on the Talbot effect and offer the best in-class performance. Anisotropy helps reduce the Talbot length but temporal and spatial dispersion is necessary to control the modal phase error and wavelength dependence of the Talbot length. The Talbot effect in a Kronig-Penny metamaterial is analysed. It is shown that the metamaterial may be engineered to provide a close approximation to the parabolic dispersion relation required by the Talbot effect for perfect imaging. These findings are then applied to the multimode region and access waveguide tapers of a multi-slotted waveguide multimode interference coupler with slots either in the transverse direction or longitudinal direction. A novel polarisation beam splitter exploiting the anisotropy provided by a longitudinally slotted structure is demonstrated by simulation. The thesis describes the design, verification by simulation and layout of a photonic integrated circuit containing metamaterial waveguide test structures. The test and measurement of the fabricated chip and the analysis of the data is described in detail. The experimental results show good agreement with the theory, with the expected errors due to fabrication process limitations. From the Scanning Electron Microscope images and the measurements, it is clear that at the boundary of the minimum feature size limit, the error increases but still the devices can function.

No / A review is carried out on the characterisation and algorithmic implementation of an extended product-form approximation, based on the principle of maximum entropy (ME), for a wide class of arbitrary finite capacity open queueing network models (QNMs) with service and space priorities. A single server finite capacity GE/GE/1/N queue with R (R>1) distinct priority classes, compound Poisson arrival processes (CPPs) with geometrically distributed batches and generalised exponential (GE) service times is analysed via entropy maximisation, subject to suitable GE-type queueing theoretic constraints, under preemptive resume (PR) and head-of-line (HOL) scheduling rules combined with complete buffer sharing (CBS) and partial buffer sharing (PBS) management schemes stipulating a sequence of buffer thresholds {N=(N1,¿,NR),0<Ni¿Ni¿1,i=2,¿,R}. The GE/GE/1/N queue is utilised, in conjunction with GE-type first two moment flow approximation formulae, as a cost-effective building block towards the establishment of a generic ME queue-by-queue decomposition algorithm for arbitrary open QNMs with space and service priorities under repetitive service blocking with random destination (RS-RD). Typical numerical results are included to illustrate the credibility of the ME algorithm against simulation for various network topologies and define experimentally pessimistic GE-type performance bounds. Remarks on the extensions of the ME algorithm to other types of blocking mechanisms, such as repetitive service blocking with fixed destination (RS-FD) and blocking-after-service (BAS), are included.

As of today, Alzheimer’s disease is the leading cause of dementia among neurodegenerative disorders, affecting many millions of people worldwide. As the average life span of populations increase, more and more people succumb to the illness each year. Like other neurodegenerative disorders, Alzheimer’s disease can be attributed to the accumulation of protein aggregates in the brain. These amyloid-β peptides and tau proteins can presumably be detected in the brain many years before the onset of clinical symptoms. Development of fluorescent ligands, capable of binding to these neuropathological hallmarks and highlighting them, could serve as molecular diagnostic tools and facilitate an early diagnosis of the disease. The method could also be useful in studying disease progression and evaluating the effects of novel treatments. One such ligand is HS-259. The aim of this project was to synthetize different analogues of HS-259, and test their selectivity towards the aforementioned aggregates in brain tissue from an individual with Alzheimer’s disease. Staining of tissue samples with analogue solution enables visualization of aggregate sites through fluorescence imaging. In the end, five analogues were synthetized, albeit in relatively low overall yields. Synthetic methods included Suzuki-Miyara cross-couplings, Ullmann-type arylations and condensations. Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS) and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) were used for analysis of the compounds. Two of the five analogues could be tested for staining of aggregates and assessed for photophysical characteristics, i.e. absorption- and emission spectra. One analogue stained both amyloid-β aggregates and some tau aggregates, whereas the other stained neither. Since only two analogues were tested and rendered inconsistent results, further studies are needed to assess the binding properties of HS-259 analogues in general.

The discursive and critical positions of the ‘classic’ nineteenth-century novel, particularly the woman’s novel, in the field of adaptation studies have been dominated by long-standing concerns about textual fidelity and the generic processes of the text-screen transfer. The sociocultural patterns of adaptation criticism have also been largely ensconced in representations of literary women on screen. Taking a decisive twist from tradition, this thesis traces the evolution of representations of masculinity in the malleable characters of Rochester and Heathcliff in film and television adaptations of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights between 1939 and 2009. Concepts of masculinity have been a neglected area of enquiry in studies of the ‘classic’ novel on screen. Adaptations of the Brontës’ novels, as well as the adapted novels of other ‘classic’ women authors such as Jane Austen, George Eliot and Elizabeth Gaskell, increasingly foreground male character in traditionally female-oriented narratives or narratives whose primary protagonist is female. This thesis brings together industrial histories, textual frames and sociocultural influences that form the wider contexts of the adaptations to demonstrate how male characterisation and different representations of masculinity are reformulated and foregrounded through three different adaptive histories of the narratives of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. Through the contours of the film and television industries, the application of text and context analysis, and wider sociocultural considerations of each period an understanding of how Rochester and Heathcliff have been transmuted and centralised within the adaptive history of the Brontë novel.