High-wavelength-resolution extreme-ultraviolet multilayer mirror

Multilayer mirrors with a system wavelength resolution (lambda/Dlambda) as high as 30-50 are required for the diagnostics of cosmic plasmas with temperatures of 1-20 MK. Such a high wavelength resolution can be realized by increasing the number of layer pairs contributing to the reflectance, by selecting less-absorbing materials for both the reflector and the spacer, and by decreasing the thickness of the reflector. We have fabricated a multilayer mirror tuned to 284 A with a silicon carbide reflector (20% thickness of the layer period) and an aluminum spacer and achieved lambda/Dlambda ~26.8 with a peak reflectivity of ~13.0%. This wavelength resolution is close to the value obtained with a numerical simulation and is considerably higher than the value obtained with the conventional Mo/Si multilayer.     

Two-photon resonance-enhanced refractive-index change and self-focusing in a dye-solution-filled hollow fiber system

The general behavior of two-photon absorption-enhanced refractive-index change in a third-order nonlinear optical medium is briefly described. The nonlinear medium was the solution of a new dye, trans-4-[p-(N-hydroxyethyl-N-methylamino)styryl]-N-methyl pyridinium iodide (ASPI) in dimethyl sulfoxide as the solvent, that was poured into a 20-cm-long quartz hollow fiber of 100-mum internal diameter. This dye solution has a strong two-photon absorption and subsequent upconversion fluorescence emission when excited with 1064-nm laser radiation. When the input peak intensity reached 500-1500-MW/cm(2) levels, obvious changes in beam profiles of the output IR laser beam were observed due to a self-focusing or self-trapping process occurring inside the fiber system. As a result of this process, highly directional frequency-upconverted superradiant lasing output was obtained with a beam size ~5 times smaller than that of a linearly transmitted He-Ne probe laser beam. The demonstrated mechanism can be useful for fiber laser-amplifier and fiber-integrated optics devices.     

Evaluation of fluorescence emitting characteristics of a microparticle by illumination angle scanning utilizing a resin-based monolithic TAS chip

Microsystem Technologies - An optical sensor, such as a light waveguide implemented total analysis system (TAS), is one of the functional components that will be needed to realize a...     

Structure of $$\langle 110 \rangle $$-tilt boundaries in cubic zirconia

Atomic structures of \(\langle 110 \rangle \)-symmetrical tilt grain boundaries in yttria-stabilized cubic zirconia are investigated from a mathematical perspective. We predicted the unique arrangement of structural units along the grain boundaries which was confirmed experimentally by atomic-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy.     

Dissociation reaction of the 1/3$$ \left\langle {\bar{1}101} \right\rangle $$ edge dislocation in α-Al2O3

It has been reported that dislocations with 1/3\( \left\langle {\bar{1}101} \right\rangle \) edge component of the Burgers vector are formed in {1\( \bar{1} \)04}/\( \left\langle {11\bar{2}0} \right\rangle \) low-angle grain boundaries of alumina (α-Al₂O₃). These dislocations dissociate into two partial dislocations with a stacking fault on the (0001) plane (Tochigi et al. in J Mater Sci 46:4428–4433, 2011). However, the dissociation reaction of these dislocations has not been determined so far. In this study, the structures of the dissociated dislocations and the (0001) stacking fault were investigated by transmission electron microscopy and theoretical calculations. It was revealed that the dissociated dislocations were generated from the 1/3\( \left\langle {\bar{1}101} \right\rangle \) perfect edge dislocation by the reaction of 1/3\( \left\langle {\bar{1}101} \right\rangle \) → 1/18\( \left\langle {\bar{4}223} \right\rangle \) + 1/18\( \left\langle {\bar{2}4\bar{2}3} \right\rangle \). Furthermore, electron energy loss spectroscopy analysis was performed to examine the atomic/electronic structure of the (0001) stacking fault. In the observed spectra, a chemical shift and intensity decrease were found at the oxygen K-edge. Theoretical spectrum analysis using first-principles calculations revealed that the characteristic features of the spectra are originated from the local atomic configurations of the (0001) stacking fault.     

A study of real-time and 100 billion agents simulation using the Boids model

In high-performance computing of multi-agent systems, there often exists a load imbalance that slows down the calculation. In this paper, we discuss the parallelization of the Boids model for simulating a swarm intelligence. We apply the multi-level hierarchy of parallelism to the Boids model to mitigate the load-imbalance problem. To eliminate numerical errors due to parallelization, we apply pseudo-quadruple arithmetic. The parallel performance is evaluated on three major architectures, including many-core processors on an x86-based server with GPUs, and the Earth Simulator. The parallelization can decrease the negative effects of a load imbalance to almost zero in a simulation of 50 million agents. In addition, the parallelization guarantees the reproducibility of the results in a sequential execution. The strong scaling shows the potential to complete a simulation in real-time on the Earth Simulator. In addition, the weak scaling shows the ability to calculate 100 billion agents within a reasonable amount of time.     

Realizing whole-body tactile interactions with a self-organizing,multi-modal artificial skin on a humanoid robot

In this paper, we present a new approach to realize whole-body tactile interactions with a self-organizing, multi-modal artificial skin on a humanoid robot. We, therefore, equipped the whole upper body of the humanoid HRP-2 with various patches of CellulARSkin – a modular artificial skin. In order to automatically handle a potentially high number of tactile sensor cells and motors units, the robot uses open-loop exploration motions, and distributed accelerometers in the artificial skin cells, to acquire its self-centered sensory-motor knowledge. This body self-knowledge is then utilized to transfer multi-modal tactile stimulations into reactive body motions. Tactile events provide feedback on changes of contact on the whole-body surface. We demonstrate the feasibility of our approach on a humanoid, here HRP-2, grasping large and unknown objects only via tactile feedback. Kinesthetically taught grasping trajectories, are reactively adapted to the size and stiffness of different test objects. Our paper contributes the first realization of a self-organizing tactile sensor-behavior mapping on a full-sized humanoid robot, enabling a position controlled robot to compliantly handle objects.     

Improvement of impact strength and hydrolytic stability of PC/ABS blend using reactive polymer

Polycarbonate/acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene (PC/ABS) blends have been used widely for specific applications such as in automotive interior and exterior parts, and for office automation equipment parts. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of a reactive polymer as a modifier on properties such as the impact strength of PC/ABS blends. A reaction between PC and maleic anhydride group cannot usually be expected because the end hydroxyl group of PC is capped with an end‐capping agent such as t‐butylphenol to improve PC properties such as fluidity, thermal resistance, and impact strength. However, a reactive polymer that has a maleic anhydride group reacts with the end hydroxyl group of PC hydrolyzed with metal salts. Results show that PC/ABS with a reactive polymer exhibits improved impact strength. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017 , 134, 44550.