During operation of heavy ion accelerators a significant pressure rise has been observed when the intensity of the high energy beam was increased. The cause for this pressure rise is ion induced desorption, which is the result when beam ions collide with residual gas molecules in the accelerator, whereby they undergo charge exchange. Since the change in charge state will affect the bending radius of the particles after they have passed a bending magnet, they will not follow the required trajectory but instead collide with the vacuum chamber wall and gas are released. For the Future GSI project FAIR (Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research) there is a need to upgrade the SIS18 synchrotron in order to meet the requirements of the increased intensity. The aim of this work was to measure the desorption yields, η, (released molecules per incident ion) from materials commonly used in accelerators: 316LN stainless steel, Cu, Etched Cu, gold coated Cu, Ta and TiZrV coated stainless steel with argon and uranium beams at the energies 5-100 MeV/u. The measurements were performed at GSI and at The Svedberg Laboratory where a new dedicated teststand was built. It was found that the desorption yield scales with the electronic energy loss to the second power, decreasing for increasing impact energy above the Bragg Maximum. A feasibility study on the possibility to use laser refractometry to improve the accuracy of a specific throughput system was performed. The result was an improvement by up to 3 orders of magnitude, depending on pressure range.

Tubulin, microtubules and associated proteins were studied theoretically, computationally and experimentally in vitro and in vivo in order to elucidate the possible role these play in cellular information processing and storage. Use of the electric dipole moment of tubulin as the basis for binary switches (biobits) in nanofabricated circuits was explored with surface plasmon resonance, refractometry and dielectric spectroscopy. The effects of burdening the microtubular cytoskeleton of olfactory associative memory neurons with excess microtubule associated protein TAU in Drosophila fruitflies were determined. To investigate whether tubulin may be used as the substrate for quantum computation as a bioqubit, suggestions for experimental detection of quantum coherence and entanglement among tubulin electric dipole moment states were developed.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-12T20:27:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Renan Sebem.pdf: 14781648 bytes, checksum: 1c30002408823e0116831038c8c98e8c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-09-21 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This work explores the potential and shows the implementation of the long period gratings as refractive index sensors. It is proposed a sensor design where the refractive index sensitivity is improved. The design includes the use of the sensor with simple and low cost interrogation. Several manufacturing parameters are investigated and the process is enhanced to meet the design specifications, and also to obtain repeatability in the process. New ideas were proposed to manufacture tilted gratings and to control the index modulation duty cycle in a practical way with inexpensive equipment. The inscription of the fiber sensor is made by CO2 laser, point to point, with a uniform index modulation. The gratings were interrogated by an optical spectrum analyzer and also by edge filter demodulation in the 1550 nm region through an electronic board, developed in this work with automatic normalization of the signal. Results show that the refractive index sensitivity is influenced by several design and manufacturing parameters of the fiber grating. Performed experiments show a considerable increase in the refractive index sensitivity of the grating. / Este trabalho explora o potencial e demonstra a implementação das redes de período longo em fibra como sensores de índice de refração. É proposto um projeto do sensor em que a sensibilidade ao índice de refração é aperfeiçoada. O projeto contempla a utilização do sensor com interrogação de maneira simples e de baixo custo. Diversos parâmetros de fabricação são investigados e o processo é aprimorado para atingir as especificações de projeto, e também a fim da obtenção de repetibilidade no processo. Novas ideias foram propostas para fabricação de redes inclinadas e para o controle do duty cycle da modulação de índice da rede de maneira prática com equipamentos de baixo custo. A fabricação do sensor em fibra é feita através de laser de CO2, ponto a ponto, e com modulação de índice uniforme. As redes foram interrogadas através de analisador de espectro óptico e também por demodulação de borda de filtro na região de 1550 nm através de uma placa eletrônica, desenvolvida neste trabalho com normalização automática do sinal. Resultados mostram que a sensibilidade ao índice de refração é influenciada por alguns parâmetros de projeto e fabricação da rede em fibra. Experimentos realizados mostraram um aumento considerável na sensibilidade da rede ao índice de refração.

Au cours des dernières décennies, les métamatériaux ont montré qu'ils pouvaient avoir des propriétés étonnantes, permettant d'imaginer et de réaliser des dispositifs tels que des lentilles à indice négatif, des dispositifs de camouflage ou des lentilles parfaitement plates. Aussi, font-ils aujourd'hui l'objet d'une intense recherche. Cette thèse, inscrite dans le projet ANR METAPHOTONIQUE, avait pour objectif principal d'étudier la possibilité d'utiliser des métamatériaux pour l'optique guidée à la longueur d'onde télécom. Ceci a requis une meilleure compréhension du comportement des métamatériaux, ce qui nous a orientés vers l'étude de modèles effectifs. La récupération des paramètres optiques effectifs a nécessité de pouvoir simuler la réponse des métamatériaux sous une illumination en incidence oblique, ce qui a requis l'implémentation de telles méthodes en FDTD. Aux cours de nos travaux, nous avons aussi mis en évidence un phénomène de rotation de la polarisation de modes guidés suite à leur interaction avec des métamatériaux asymétriques. Nous avons alors pu concevoir et caractériser un dispositif pour l'optique guidée destiné faire tourner la polarisation de la lumière sur une longueur deux fois plus courte que la longueur d'onde. Enfin, un objectif secondaire a été de déterminer si les pertes dues à la présence de nanostructures métalliques dans nos métamatériaux pouvaient être compensées grâce à l'utilisation de matériaux à gain. Un modèle permettant de décrire de tels matériaux en FDTD a donc été étudié et implémenté / Over the last decades, metamaterials have been shown to exhibit extraordinary properties. These properties could allow the design of new devices such as negative refractive index lenses, cloaking devices and perfectly flat lenses. This PhD is part of the ANR METAPHOTONIQUE project and its main objective was to study the potential of metamaterials for integrated photonics at telecommunication wavelengths. This required to first better understand the behavior of metamaterials, which led us to study effective index models. The retrieval of effective optical parameters required to be able to simulate the optical response of metamaterials under oblique incidence excitation. Due to this, we had to study and implement such methods for FDTD computations. Our work also showed that asymmetrical metamaterials possessed the ability to make the polarization of guided modes rotate. This allowed us to design and characterize a potential device for integrated photonics, which effectively converts the polarization of guided modes over lengths shorter than half the wavelength. A secondary goal of this PhD was to study the potential compensation of losses occuring within the metallic nanostructures of our metamaterials through the use of materials with gain. Thus, a model allowing us to simulate such materials in FDTD has been implemented

No / PURPOSE: To estimate refractive indices used by the Lenstar biometer to translate measured optical path lengths into geometrical path lengths within the eye. METHODS: Axial lengths of model eyes were determined using the IOLMaster and Lenstar biometers; comparing those lengths gave an overall eye refractive index estimate for the Lenstar. Using the Lenstar Graphical User Interface, we noticed that boundaries between media could be manipulated and opposite changes in optical path lengths on either side of the boundary could be introduced. Those ratios were combined with the overall eye refractive index to estimate separate refractive indices. Furthermore, Haag-Streit provided us with a template to obtain 'air thicknesses' to compare with geometrical distances. RESULTS: The axial length estimates obtained using the IOLMaster and the Lenstar agreed to within 0.01 mm. Estimates of group refractive indices used in the Lenstar were 1.340, 1.341, 1.415, and 1.354 for cornea, aqueous, lens, and overall eye, respectively. Those refractive indices did not match those of schematic eyes, but were close in the cases of aqueous and lens. Linear equations relating air thicknesses to geometrical thicknesses were consistent with our findings. CONCLUSION: The Lenstar uses different refractive indices for different ocular media. Some of the refractive indices, such as that for the cornea, are not physiological; therefore, it is likely that the calibrations in the instrument correspond to instrument-specific corrections and are not the real optical path lengths.

Invert syrup is a liquid sweetener, which is produced by sucrose hydrolysis to form fructose and glucose. Important qualitative parameter of invert syrup is the sucrose inversion – weight percentage of invert sugar (sum of fructose and glucose) in invert syrup dry mass. This diploma thesis presents a possibility of sucrose inversion determination by polarimetry in combination with refractometry in invert syrups of 70–78 % dry mass produced at 80 °C and pH 2,4. New relationship describing the sucrose inversion as a function of polarization and refractometric dry mass was determined. The results of sucrose inversion determined using this new relationship were compared to results obtained by HPLC/RI, which was used as a reference method. The difference between these 2 determination methods was 0,1 ± 0,5 %. The new relationship was detemined with reference to the fact, that under the processing conditions, more glucose than fructose is formed. The fructose : glucose concentration ratio formed under processing conditions was observed to be equal 0,96 ± 0,02.

Le virus de la stomatite vésiculaire (VSV) sert de modèle pour l'étude de la multiplication des virus (Mononegavirales) alors que la rage(RV) reste un sérieux problème de santé publique. Le génome de VSV et RV code notamment la nucléoprotéine (N) et la phosphoprotéine (P). N s'associe étroitement à l'ARN viral. Ce complexe N-ARN sert de matrice pour la réplication et la transcription virale. P est le cofacteur de la polymérase virale (L) et chaperonne N. En interagissant avec N-ARN (domaine C-terminal) et avec L (domaine N-terminal), P assure le lien physique entre l'ARN viral et L. La stœchiométrie de P, sa structure et son rôle exact pendant la transcription et la réplication restent incertains. Mon travail a consisté à une caractérisation biophysique et structurale de P et des complexes N-ARN-P pour mieux comprendre la dynamique du complexe de réplication de ces virus.<br />L'analyse biophysique montre que P RV & VSV existent sous forme de dimère allongé en solution. L'analyse bioinformatique a révélé une organisation modulaire, confirmé par des études biochimiques et biophysiques de mutants de P RV. La structure du domaine C-terminal de P VSV a été résolue par RMN et montre une homologie celle du C-ter de P RV. La caractérisation de l'interaction entre P et les anneaux N-ARN a révélé l'existence de deux types de complexes N-ARN-P (contenant un et 2 dimères de P par anneau). L'étude par ME des complexes nucléocapsides-P a permis de mettre en évidence un changement de conformation important.<br />Pour devenir accessible à L, l'ARN viral doit se dissocier localement de N. L'interaction N-ARN-P représente potentiellement une nouvelle cible pour le développement d'antiviraux.