Sensing the heavy water concentration in an H_(2)O-D_(2)O mixture by solid-solid phononic crystals

A new method based on phononic crystals is presented to detect the concentration of heavy water(D_(2)O)in an H_(2)O-D_(2)O mixture.Results have been obtained and analyzed in the concentration range of 0%-10%and 90%-100%D_(2)O.A proposed structure of tungsten scatterers in an aluminum host is studied.In order to detect the target material,a cavity region is considered as a sound wave resonator in which the target material with different concentrations of D_(2)O is embedded.By changing the concentration of D_(2)O in the H_(2)O-D_(2)O mixture,the resonance frequency undergoes a frequency shift.Each 1%change in D_(2)O concentration in the H_(2)O-D_(2)O mixture causes a frequency change of about 120 Hz.The finite element method is used as the numerical method to calculate and analyze the natural frequencies and transmission spectra of the proposed sensor.The performance evaluation index shows a high Q factor up to 1475758 and a high sensitivity up to 13075,which are acceptable values for sensing purposes.The other figures of merit related to the detection performance also indicate high-quality performance of the designed sensor.

An overview of recent progress in the development of flexible electrochromic devices

Electrochromic materials are capable of reversibly switching their colors or optical properties through redox reactions under applied voltages,which have shown great potential applications including smart windows,nonemissive displays,optical filters,among others.Although the current rigid electrochromic devices have shown emerging interest and developed rapidly,many applications(e.g.,wearable/deformable optoelectronics)are blocked due to their inflexible features.Herein,the adaption of rigid electrochromic devices to flexible ones is of particular interest for the new era of smart optoelectronics.In this review,the current state-of-the-art achievements of flexible electrochromic devices(FECDs)are highlighted,along with their design strategies and the choice of electrochromic materials.The recent research progress of FECDs is reviewed in detail,and the challenges and corresponding solutions for real-world applications of FECDs are discussed.Furthermore,we summarize the basic fabrication strategies of FECDs and their potential applications.In addition,the development trend,the perspectives,and the outlook of FECDs are discussed at the end of this Review,which may provide recommendations and potential directions to advance the practical applications of FECDs.

Fast and Stable Zinc Anode‑Based Electrochromic Displays Enabled by Bimetallically Doped Vanadate and Aqueous Zn^(2+)/Na^(+)Hybrid Electrolytes

Vanadates are a class of the most promising electrochromic materials for displays as their multicolor characteristics.However,the slow switching times and vanadate dissolution issues of recently reported vanadates significantly hinder their diverse practical applications.Herein,novel strategies are developed to design electrochemically stable vanadates having rapid switching times.We show that the interlayer spacing is greatly broadened by introducing sodium and lanthanum ions into V_(3)O_(8)interlayers,which facilitates the transportation of cations and enhances the electrochemical kinetics.In addition,a hybrid Zn^(2+)/Na^(+)electrolyte is designed to inhibit vanadate dissolution while significantly accelerating electrochemical kinetics.As a result,our electrochromic displays yield the most rapid switching times in comparison with any reported Zn-vanadate electrochromic displays.It is envisioned that stable vanadate-based electrochromic displays having video speed switching are appearing on the near horizon.

Lasing behaviour from the condensation of polaronic excitons in a ZnO nanowire

Atoms under optical and magnetic trapping in a limited space at a very low temperature can lead to Bose-Einstein condensation （BEC）, even in a one-dimensional （1D） optical lattice. However, can the confinment of dense excitons in a 1D semiconductor microstructure easily reach the excitonic BEC？ A lightly Mn（II）-doped ZnO nanowire under a femtosecond laser pulse pump at room temperature produces single-mode lasing from coherent bipolaronic excitons, which is much like a macroscopic quantum state due to the condensation of the bipoaronic excitons if not real BEC. In this process, longitudinal biphonon binding with the exciton plays an important role. We revisit this system and propose possibility of bipolaronic exciton condensation. More studies are needed for this condensation phenomenon in 1D microcavity systems.

Delta-doped quantum wire tunnel junction for highly concentrated solar cells

We propose a novel structure for tunnel junction based on delta-doped AlGaAs/GaAs quantum wires. Higher spatial confinement of quantum wires alongside the increased effective doping concentration in the delta-doped regions extremely increase the peak tunneling current and enhance the performance of tunnel junction. The proposed structure can be used as tunnel junction in the multijunction solar cells under the highest possible thermodynamically limited solar concentration.The combination of the quantum wire with the delta-doped structure can be of benefit to the solar cells' advantages including higher number of sub-bands and high degeneracy. Simulation results show a voltage drop of 40 mV due to the proposed tunnel junction used in a multijunction solar cell which presents an extremely low resistance to the achieved peak tunneling current.

Transparent inorganic multicolour displays enabled by zinc-based electrochromic devices

Electrochromic displays have been the subject of extensive research as a promising colour display technology.The current state-of-the-art inorganic multicolour electrochromic displays utilize nanocavity structures that sacrifice transparency and thus limit their diverse applications.Herein,we demonstrate a transparent inorganic multicolour display platform based on Zn-based electrochromic devices.These devices enable independent operation of top and bottom electrochromic electrodes,thus providing additional configuration flexibility of the devices through the utilization of dual electrochromic layers under the same or different colour states.Zn-sodium vanadium oxide(Zn-SVO)electrochromic displays were assembled by sandwiching Zn between two SVO electrodes,and they could be reversibly switched between multiple colours(orange,amber,yellow,brown,chartreuse and green)while preserving a high optical transparency.These Zn-SVO electrochromic displays represent the most colourful transparent inorganic-based electrochromic displays to date.In addition,the Zn-SVO electrochromic displays possess an open-circuit potential(OCP)of 1.56 V,which enables a self-colouration behaviour and compelling energy retrieval functionality.This study presents a new concept integrating high transparency and high energy efficiency for inorganic multicolour displays.

Photoconductivity and surface chemical analysis of ZnO thin films deposited by solution-processing techniques for nano and microstructure fabrication

The fabrication of zinc oxide(ZnO) from inexpensive solution-processing techniques,namely,electrochemical deposition and electrospinning were explored on various conducting and mesoporous semiconducting surfaces.Optimised conditions were derived for template- and self-assisted nano/micro structures and composites. ZnO thin films were annealed at a fixed temperature under ambient conditions and characterised using physical and optical techniques.The photocurrent response in the UV region shows a fast rise and double decay behaviour with a fast component followed by a slow oscillatory decay.Photocurrent results were correlated with surface chemical analysis from X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.Various characterisation details reveal the importance of fabrication parameter optimisation for useful low-cost optoelectronic applications.

Research at the University of Kent and Subsequent Research Activities

The author＇s research activities undertaken at the Applied Optics Group, the University of Kent at Canterbury are reviewed, during his time there from 1988-1992 and 1994-1996, followed by a summary of recent research. The areas of interest are high finesse ring resonators, tunable optical filters, novel optical fiber grating sensors in glass and polymer, femtosecond laser inscription and micromachining, environmental pollution monitoring, hydrogen activated Pd films on silicon and impurity measurement on silicon wafers.

Plasmonic light trapping for wavelength-scale silicon solar absorbers

Light trapping is of critical importance for constructing high efficiency solar cells. In this paper, we first reviewed the progress we made on the plasmonic light trapping on Si wafer solar cells, including AI nanoparticle （NP）/SiNx hybrid plasmonic antireflection and the Ag NP light trapping for the long-wavelength light in ultrathin Si wafer solar cells. Then we numerically explored the maximum light absorption enhancement by a square array of Ag NPs located at the rear side of ultrathin solar cells with wavelength-scale Si thickness. Huge absorption enhancement is achieved at particular long wavelengths due to the excitation of the plasmon-coupled guided resonances. The photocurrent generated in 100 nm thick Si layers is 6.8 mA/cm2, representing an enhancement up to 92% when compared with that （3.55 mA/cm2） of the solar cells without the Ag NPs. This study provides the insights of plasmonic light trapping for ultrathin solar cells with wavelength-scale Si thickness.

Quantum-dot microlasers based on whispering gallery mode resonators

The subject of this paper is microlasers with the emission spectra determined by the whispering gallery modes.Owing to the total internal reflection of light on the sidewalls,a high Q-factor is achieved until the diameter is comparable to the wavelength.The light emission predominantly occurs in the plane of the structure,which facilitates the microlaser integration with other elements.We focus on microdisk lasers with various types of the In(Ga)As quantum dots(QDs).Deep localization of charge carriers in spatilly separated regions suppresses the lateral diffusion and makes it possible to overcome the undesirable effect of non-adiative recombination in deep mesas.Thus,using conventional epitaxial structures and relatively simple post-growth processing methods,it is possible to realize small microlasers capable of operating without temperature stabilization at elevated temperatures.The low sensitivity of QDs to epitaxial and manufacturing defects allows fabricating microlasers using IIV heterostructures grown on silicon.

Sensing Properties of Femtosecond Laser-Inscribed Long Period Gratings in Photonic Crystal Fiber

The use of near infrared, high intensity femtosecond laser pulses for the inscription of long period fiber gratings in photonic crystal fiber is reported. The formation of grating structures in photonic crystal fiber is complicated by the fiber structure that allows wave-guidance but that impairs and scatters the femtosecond inscription beam. The effects of symmetric and asymmetric femtosecond laser inscriptions are compared and the polarization characteristics of long period gratings and their responses to external perturbations are reported.