Three-stage Transformation of Chlorophyll Transient Fluorescence Pattern Under Sustained Dehydration and the Discovery of Critical Water Content in Seaweeds

The chlorophyll fluorescence kinetics of marine red alga Grateloupia turutunt Yamada, green alga Ulva pertusa Kjellm and brown alga Laminaria japonica Aresch during natural sustained dehydration were monitored and investigated. The pulse amplified modulation (PAM) system was used to analyze the distinct fluorescence parameters during thallus dehydration. Results proved that the fluorescence kinetics of different seaweed all showed three patterns of transformation with sustained water loss. These were: 1) peak kinetic pattern (at the early stage of dehydration fluorescence enhanced and quenched subsequently, representing a normal physiological state). 2) plateau kinetic pattern (with sustained water loss fluorescence enhanced continuously but quenching became slower, finally reaching its maximum). 3) Platform kinetic pattern (fluorescence fell and the shape of kinetic curve was similar to plateau kinetic pattern). A critical water content (CWC) could be found and defined as the percentage of water content just prior to the fluorescence drop and to be a significant physiological index for evaluation of plant drought tolerance. Once thallus water content became lower than this value the normal peak pattern can not be recovered even through rehydration, indicating an irreversible damage to the thylakoid membrane. The CWC value corresponding to different marine species were varied and negatively correlated with their desiccation tolerance, for example. Laminaria japonica had the highest CWC value (around 90%) and the lowest dehydration tolerance of the three. In addition, a fluorescence 'burst' was found only in red algae during rehydration. The different fluorescence parameters F-o, F-v and F-v, F-m were measured and compared during water loss. Both F-o and F-v increased in the first stage of dehydration but F-v/F-m. kept almost constant. So the immediate response of in vivo chlorophyll fluorescence to dehydration was an enhancement. Later with sustained dehydration F-o increased continuously while F-v decreased and tended to become smaller and smaller. The major changes in fluorescence (including fluorescence drop during dehydration and the burst during rehydration) were all attributed to the change in F-o instead of F-v This significance of F-o indicates that it is necessary to do more research on F-o as well as on its relationship with the state of thylakoid membrane.

Implementation of a new PC based controller for a PUMA robot

This paper describes the replacement of a controller for a programmable universal machine for assembly (PUMA) 512 robot with a newly designed PC based (open architecture) controller employing a real-time direct control of six joints. The original structure of the PUMA robot is retained. The hardware of the new controller includes such in-house designed parts as pulse width modulation (PWM) amplifiers, digital and analog controllers, I/O cards, signal conditioner cards, and 16-bit A/D and D/A boards. An Intel Pentium IV industrial computer is used as the central controller. The control software is implemented using VC++ programming language. The trajectory tracking performance of all six joints is tested at varying velocities. Experimental results show that it is feasible to implement the suggested open architecture platform for PUMA 500 series robots through the software routines running on a PC. By assembling controller from off-the-shell hardware and software components, the benefits of reduced and improved robustness have been realized.

Characterization of Full-WDM-Band Photodiode Modules Using Raman Amplifiers in the U Band at 40 Gb/s

We present the characteristics of a full-WDM-band photodiode module in 40 Gb/s U-band operation using a Raman amplifier. This module is suitable for wide-band transmission systems with the additional new channels in the U band.

Optical Nonlinearity in a Novel Optical Signal Regeneration System Based on Cross-Gain Modulation Using Cascaded Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers

We propose a novel optical signal regeneration system based on wavelength converters by use of cross gain modulation in cascaded semiconductor optical amplifiers. The nonlinearity in optical input/output characteristics and eye opening using NRZ signal were archived.

Device Length Dependency of Cross Gain Modulation and Cross Phase Modulation in Semiconductor Optical Amplifier

The cross gain modulation, the cross phase modulation and their recovery time in the SOAs with the various lengths were experimentally investigated. It was found that these values strongly depended on the device length.

Modulated bandwidth enhancement in an amplified feedback laser

We report a direct, modulated bandwidth enhancement in a amplified feedback laser （AFL）, both experimen- tally and numerically. By means of fabricated devices, an enhanced -3 dB bandwidth of 27 GHz with an in-band flatness of ±3 dB is experimentally confirmed at 13℃. It is numerically confirmed that the modulated bandwidth of the AFL can be enhanced to two times its original bandwidth, with more controlled flexibility to realize a flat, small-signal response.

All-optical NRZ wavelength conversion using a Sagnac loop with optimized SOA characteristics

We investigated the all-optical wavelength conversion technique for non-return-to-zero（NRZ） signals based on a Sagnac loop interferometer using an SOA. For the wavelength conversion of the NRZ signal at and above40 Gbit/s, we used an in-house numerical SOA model to analyze the influence of the SOA carrier characteristics and the SOA length on the performance of the Sagnac loop. We found that the SOA carrier recovery time should be between 2 and 3 times of one bit duration in order to get optimum NRZ wavelength conversion. In addition to the carrier recovery time requirement, SOAs with a shorter physical length are preferred to be used in the Sagnac interferometer.

A new technique to measure the differential XAFS spectrum

A new technique has been developed for direct measurement of the differential X-ray absorption fine structure（XAFS） spectrum by the energy-modulation method. To acquire the energy-oscillating incident X-ray beam, a piezoelectric actuator is used to control the double-crystal monochromator. A logarithmic converter circuit and a lock-in amplifier are used to extract the modulated signals. The normal and differential XAFS spectra of the Mn K-edge of Li2 Mn O3 have been collected. The X-ray-absorption near-edge-structure（XANES） spectra verify that the signal-to-noise ratio has been greatly improved by the new technique, and the extended X-ray absorption fine structure（EXAFS） spectra demonstrate that this new technique can efficiently enhance the signals of the backscattering atoms.