Investigation of 4,4′- bis [(N carbazole) styryl] biphenyl (BSB4) for a pure blue fluorescent OLED with enhanced efficiency nearing the theoretical limit

4,4′-bis[(N-carbazole) styryl] biphenyl (BSB4 or BSBCz) is one of the widely studied organic fluorescent materials for blue organic electroluminescent devices in the recent times. In this work, BSB4 is used as a guest material to construct the host-guest matrix for the emissive layer (EML) of a pure blue fluorescent organic light-emitting diode (OLED). A pure blue emission suitable for display application with a Commission Internationale de l’Eclairage (CIE) coordinate of (0.147, 0.070) is achieved by the blue-shift of the emission spectrum of the host-guest matrix from that of the pristine guest (BSB4) molecules. The optimization of OLED structures is carried out by considering (i) charge balance in the emissive layer for high exciton density, and (ii) optical interference of generated light in the organic layers for increased light outcoupling. A thorough comparative study on the use of different combinations of widely used hole and electron transport layers to obtain charge balance in the EML of the OLED, thereby enhancing the external quantum efficiency (EQE) is shown. Optical interference effects in the fabricated OLEDs are analyzed by optical simulation of each device structure by transfer matrix method (TMM). With the optimized device structures, we are able to overcome the 2% EQE limit that has been reported so far for blue fluorescent OLEDs with BSB4 as light emitting material and achieve a maximum EQE of 4.08%, which is near to the theoretical limit of EQE for fluorescent OLEDs.

Development and Testing of a Modular Sunlight Transport System Employing Free-Form Mirrors

The energy consumption of artificial lighting and its impacts on health have stimulated research into natural lighting systems. However, natural lighting system designs are mainly custom, making them costly and difficult to replicate. This study took an office space as a testing field in order to develop a highly adaptable and adjustable modular natural light illumination system. We divided the system into multiple module designs, demonstrated the use of simple development and fabrication processes and integrated a freeform reflector into the system. In creating a freeform mirror, the optical simulation results of the tested field were regressed (through polynomial regression) to achieve a uniformly illuminated plane, and a high-efficiency light-emitting system was produced. Finally, an active heliostat was used to collect sunlight, combined with actual manufacturing verification and measurement results, in order to create an excellent indoor lighting system. As a result, we presented a low-cost and easy-to-design natural light illumination system for the assisted lighting of office areas.

Ultrastructure and Function of Setae of a Planktonic Diatom, Chaetoceros Coarctatus

Silica frustules of most planktonic diatoms have many shallow holes in which the length (L) is smaller than the width (W). The present study focuses on a silicic ultrastructure of the setae of a planktonic diatom having deep (L/W > 1) holes. Here, we characterized nanoholes on the silica walls of hollow setae of a colony of Chaetoceros coarctatus. Basically, tetragonal poroid arrangements with and without a costa pattern are observed on the inner and outer surfaces, respectively, for three kinds of curving hollow setae. Deep nanoholes ∼90 nm wide are elongated from 150 to 1500 nm (L/W ∼17) with an increase in the wall thickness of the polygonal tubes of the setae. The inside poroid array, with a period of 190 nm in the extension direction of setae, is lined by parallel plates of the costae. However, the poroid arrangement on the outer surface is disordered, with several holes obstructed with increasing wall thickness of the posterior terminal setae. According to the movement of a colony in a fluid microchannel, the thick curving terminal setae is suggested to involve attitude control and mechanical protection. Using an optical simulation, the patterned deep through-holes on the intercalary setae were inferred to contribute anti-reflection of blue light for the promotion of photosynthesis in seawater.

Optical bench simulation for intraocular lenses using field-tracing technology

Purpose To evaluate the image quality of intraocular lenses (IOLs) using field-tracing optical simulation and then compare it with the image quality using conventional ray-tracing simulation. Methods We simulated aspheric IOLs with a decenter, tilt, and no misalignment using an aspheric corneal eye model with a positive spherical aberration. The retinal image, Strehl ratio, and modulation transfer function (MTF) were compared between the ray-tracing and field-tracing optical simulation and confirmed by the results reported in an in vitro experiment using the same eye model. Results The retinal image showed interference fringes from target due to diffraction from the object in a field-tracing simulation. When compared with the experimental results, the field tracing represented the experimental results more precisely than ray tracing after passing over 400 μm of the decentration and 4 degrees of the tilt of the IOLs. The MTF values showed similar results for the case of no IOL misalignment in both the field tracing and ray tracing. In the case of the 200-μm decentration or 8-degree tilt of IOL, the field-traced MTF shows lower values than the ray-traced one. Conclusions The field-tracing optical bench simulation is a reliable method to evaluate IOL performance according to the IOL misalignment. It can provide retinal image quality close to real by taking into account the wave nature of light, interference and diffraction to explain to patients having the IOL misalignment.

Enhanced fluorescence signal using stray light shutter in a quantitative PCR chip

Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) is the most important quantitative sensing technique for pathogens, especially for emerging pandemics such as coronavirus outbreak this year. The qPCR chip and device were investigated to meet the unmet needs of ultrafast inspection time, high accuracy, and small system volume. Therein, the fluorescence intensity was the most important signal in qPCR quantification of DNA amplifications, which is essential not only in the confirmative diagnosis of positive or negative infection, but also in the assessment of viral load for therapeutic and quarantine decision making. As the target DNAs got amplified, the interaction of fluorescence dye and double strand DNA will generate fluorescence signal proportional to amplified DNA in the intensity when excited by certain wavelength. A miniature spectro-detector was employed to receive the fluorescence scattering for digital output of the intensity in the qPCR chip in this study, and the optical simulation and actual experimental design and results according to the optical simulation results were performed to study the effect of the stray light shutter (SLS) in the improvement of the signal in fluorescence detection. The analysis results showed that the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the fluorescence can be enhanced significantly for 5 times of the control using the SLS with a shape of extended component aperture, where the protruding structure was positioned away from the center. The experimental results showed that fluorescence intensity can be enhanced by 15.50% and 9.86% when adding the above shape of SLS in resin- and in glass-based chip, respectively. The results also demonstrated that the optical setup had good stability and repeatability in fluorescence detection, and variation was less than 1.00 %. Our results can provide important reference to the development of qPCR chip to obtain the high SNR fluorescence signal in DNA quantification process.

Influence of trap densities in ITO thin film on the optical, electrical, and surface plasmon resonance properties

Indium–tin–oxide (ITO) is a material having metallic behavior in the infra-red spectral range. Its electrical and optical properties are also easily tuned, making it a suitable alternative plasmonic material in the infra-red region. In this work, electrical and optical simulation modeling was performed to study the effect of trap densities in different carrier scattering mechanisms on the mobility in ITO. This study correlates the micro-structural and opto-electronic parameters to the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) behavior in the ITO thin films. The results indicate that low defect density with high carrier concentration can provide better SPR performance in ITO.

Mapping of UV-C dose and SARS-CoV-2 viral inactivation across N95 respirators during decontamination

During public health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic, ultraviolet-C (UV-C) decontamination of N95 respirators for emergency reuse has been implemented to mitigate shortages. Pathogen photoinactivation efficacy depends critically on UV-C dose, which is distance- and angle-dependent and thus varies substantially across N95 surfaces within a decontamination system. Due to nonuniform and system-dependent UV-C dose distributions, characterizing UV-C dose and resulting pathogen inactivation with sufficient spatial resolution on-N95 is key to designing and validating UV-C decontamination protocols. However, robust quantification of UV-C dose across N95 facepieces presents challenges, as few UV-C measurement tools have sufficient (1) small, flexible form factor, and (2) angular response. To address this gap, we combine optical modeling and quantitative photochromic indicator (PCI) dosimetry with viral inactivation assays to generate high-resolution maps of “on-N95” UV-C dose and concomitant SARS-CoV-2 viral inactivation across N95 facepieces within a commercial decontamination chamber. Using modeling to rapidly identify on-N95 locations of interest, in-situ measurements report a 17.4 ± 5.0-fold dose difference across N95 facepieces in the chamber, yielding 2.9 ± 0.2-log variation in SARS-CoV-2 inactivation. UV-C dose at several on-N95 locations was lower than the lowest-dose locations on the chamber floor, highlighting the importance of on-N95 dose validation. Overall, we integrate optical simulation with in-situ PCI dosimetry to relate UV-C dose and viral inactivation at specific on-N95 locations, establishing a versatile approach to characterize UV-C photoinactivation of pathogens contaminating complex substrates such as N95s.