Papers by Keyword: Birefringence

Abstract: This paper presents a high-precision, non-destructive measurement system for determining the thickness and refractive indices of birefringent optical wave plates. Significantly, the proposed method enables the two refractive indices of the optical sample to be measured simultaneously. The performance of the proposed system is verified using a commercial quartz optical wave plate with known refractive indices of 1.5518 e n = and 1.5427 o n = , respectively, and a thickness of 452.1428 μm. The experimentally determined values of the refractive indices are found to be 1.55190 e n = and 1.54281 o n = , respectively, while the thickness is found to be 452.189 μm, corresponding to an experimental error of approximately 0.046 μm. The measurement resolution of the proposed system exceeds that of the interferometer hardware itself and provides a simple yet highly accurate means of measuring the principal optical parameters of birefringent glass wave plates.

Abstract: Photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) have recently attracted a great deal of interest because of their unique characteristics and many controllable features. They include a wide range of single mode operation, highly birefringent characteristics (~10-3), high-power light transmission, etc. The field-installable LC connectors tend to be of the larger connector types in the fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) distribution units. In these designs, fibers are clamped inside a splice assembly and are stressed within the connector. In this research, we first developed a novel cam-type mechanism for field-use LC connector. The fiber stress was analyzed via a commercial available finite element program. The stress birefringence distributions of single mode fiber and air-silica based PCFs were calculated by stress photoelastic effect. We further studied the effect of air-hole size on the stressinduced birefringence of PCFs. The results indicate that stress-induced birefringence decreases as air-hole size increase. On the other hand, the birefringence increases as applied clamping force increases on the single mode fiber.

Abstract: Recently, injection molded plastic optical products are widely used in many fields, because injection molding process has advantages of low cost and high productivity. However, there remains residual birefringence and residual stresses originated from flow history and differential cooling. The present study focused on developing a technique to measure the birefringence in transparent injection-molded optical plastic parts using two methods as follows: (i) the two colored laser method, (ii) the R-G-B separation method of white light. The main idea of both methods came from the fact that more information can be obtained from the distribution of retardation caused by different wavelengths. The comparison between two methods is demonstrated for the same sample of which retardation is up to 850 nm.

Abstract: Because of their good multiplexing capabilities, fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors are being studied more actively than any of other fiber optic sensors. The application fields of FBG sensors have been mainly focused on composite materials through embedding rather than through surface attachments. However, there are many limitations on the embedding of FBG sensors into composite materials because of the birefringence that is induced when FBG sensors are not embedded parallel to the reinforcing fibers. This study investigates the fabrication of FBG sensors that have various grating lengths, good multiplexing capabilities, better stability from birefringence, and ease in production. The signal characteristics of FBG sensors are also verified through the cure monitoring of two composite laminates.

Abstract: The packing structure in green alumina bodies has been studied using thin sections of prefired bodies impregnated with refractive-index liquid examined with an automatic, polarizedlight microscope equipped with liquid-crystal adjustable quarter-wave plate and analyzer, and circularly polarized light. The combined intrinsic birefringence (caused by the anisotropy of the hexagonal symmetry of the alumina particles) and form birefringence (due to packing of the slightly elongated particles oriented in the green structure), can be quantified on a small scale. Birefringence values and slow-vibration directions are mapped for the anisotropic fine particles and agglomerates circumferentially or radially aligned in the structure. For some pre-sintered bodies, the interference pattern shows three radial dark brushes with relatively low birefringence, coming from the spider in the extruder. Slow-axis distribution shows random particle orientation in the spider region. The birefringence pattern often indicates a relatively high degree of circumferential alignment in the surface area where frictional force is present during forming. A uniform distribution of the birefringence represents a consistent green structure. The improved procedure for characterization of prefired body provides considerable insight to the optical crystallography of powder/particle arrangement in pre-sintered ceramic body and the relationship of the particle alignment with respect to flow and forming.

Abstract: Charge transfer complexes (CTC) can be readily introduced into materials by cohydrolysis-copolymerisation of bis-silylated ter-thiophenes as precursors with TMOS and TEOS in the presence of TCNQ. CTC formation is shown in the visible spectrum of the xerogel by the band at 850 nm characteristic of the TCNQ·- radical anion. Vibrational spectra have shown that strong vibration of C≡N bond at 2184, 2120 and 1595 cm-1 as peaks characteristics of CTC. The CTC bands are weak and the complex is easily destroyed by washing with acetone, which removes the TCNQ. The gelification effect of the charge transfer complexes on the hybrid materials of 2,5’’- bis(trime thoxysilyl)terthiophene/TCNQ/ TMOS showed that the peak with distance of more than 11.68 Å, formed by precursors and matrices, as a lamellar structure. The birefringence of xerogel BTS3T in presence of alkoxysilane showed that the value is near the detection limit of 0.1 – 0.4 x 10-3, which is weaker than BTS3T / THF with the birefringence value of 4.5 x 10-3.

Abstract: The objective of this work was to prepare polysaccharide-based gels exhibiting liquid crystalline properties. Such systems may be used in some optical or in biomedical applications, where biodegradability is required. Chitosan is a derivative of chitin, widely used in a series of medical applications. Due to its rigid structure, chitosan or its derivatives may show lyotropic mesophases in certain conditions. In this work, chitosan solutions were prepared by mixing completely the polysaccharide with different concentration of formic, acetic and monochloroacetic acids at room temperature. X-ray diffraction patterns of the gels did not show the existence of a crystalline structure. Finger-prints texture observed by polarised optical microscopy was attributed to a cholesteric liquid crystalline phase that usually develops in concentrated solutions. Values of the nematic chiral pitch (P) were determined in function of acid solution concentration. The critical concentrations (C*) to form a lyotropic liquid crystalline phase in formic, acetic and monochloroacetic acids were determined, and the obtained values were confronted with the expected critical concentration based on the Flory formalism. The critical concentration values were found to be dependent upon the acid used.

Abstract: The microstructure of the polyacrylonitrile (PAN) precursors can strongly affect the structure of the carbon fibers which determine the final mechanical properties of carbon fibers. The orientation factors ( n f
) of PAN precursors under different draw ratios were characterized by the birefringence (
n f ), which was obtained through polarized microscopy. The results show that the increasing of the draw ratio may enhance the degree of orientation, which can correspondingly improve the mechanical properties. However the increasing speed of the orientation factor slows down as the draw ratio reached to 8.

Abstract: We have studied the application of optical techniques for the determination of the spatial distribution of electronic properties of highly aluminum doped p-type SiC wafers. Absorption and birefringence mapping are known to be sensitive characterization methods to determine the homogeneity of charge carrier concentration and defects in n-type SiC. In the case of highly p-type doped SiC these methods fail due to the opaque character of the material. In this paper we show that Raman spectroscopy which is a reflective method can be used in order to address the same materials properties like absorption and birefringence. The study was performed using medium doped p-type SiC:Al where optical transmission and reflection methods can be applied simultaneously.