Effects of Ta2O5 on the microstructure and electrical properties of ZnO linear resistance ceramics

ZnO-Al2O3-MgO-TiO2-SiO2-Ta2O5 (ZnO-based) linear resistance ceramics with doping different molar percentages of Ta2O5 were prepared by a conventional ceramics method. Effects of Ta2O5 additives on the phase composition, microstructures, and electrical properties of ZnO-based linear resistive ceramics were investigated. The results show that doping Ta2O5 can refine the grains of the main crystalline phase ZnO and the secondary crystalline phase ZnAl2O4 in terms of microstructure, and also can reduce the grain boundary barrier and optimize the I-V characteristics in terms of electrical properties. In addition, the doping of Ta2O5 can improve the stability of the resistivity , and the impedance frequency indicates that the doping of Ta2O5 makes the sample suitable for high-frequency electric fields. The resistivity of the sample doped with 0.2 mol% Ta2O5 is 56.2 Ω·cm, and this sample has the best grain boundary barrier height, nonlinear coefficient and temperature coefficient of resistance of 0.054 eV, 1.04 and -3.48×10-3 / ℃，respectively.

Understanding Disorder in Rectangular Dielectric Microcavity CROWs (Project Report 0642603-Y2)

This NSF-funded project [0642603] is a five-year (60 months) CAREER (Faculty Early Career Development Program) unified research and education development program, which focused on the physics and applications of optical waveguiding in the CROW (Coupled Resonator Optical Waveguide) structure. The CROW structure is suitable as the foundation of this project because it offers a very high four-wave mixing (FWM) nonlinearity based on the slow-light effects on each of the pump, signal and idler modes. The triple resonance effects can result in a large improvement of the nonlinear coefficient even with a modest improvement of the slowing factor. However, understanding the effects of disorder in CROWs is important, since it can limit the amount of slowing that can be achieved, and hence, the enhancement of slow-light enhanced nonlinearity.

Analyses of defect distributions in ZnO varistors based on the Jonscher’s universal power law and the Dissado–Hill model

The defect distributions in ZnO varistors mixed with Bi2O3, NiO, MnCO3, Co2O3, and SiO2 after doping Sb2O3 were investigated, based on the Jonscher’s universal power law and the Dissado–Hill model. The microstructures were investigated using x-ray diffractometer, scanning electron microscope, energy dispersive spectrometer, and x-ray photoelectron spectrometer. The capacitance–voltage (C–V) method was utilized to obtain the parameters of the double Schottky barrier. The dielectric spectra were analyzed to extract the parameters of defect distribution. The current density–electric field (J–E) characteristics were measured to obtain the parameters of electrical properties. We found that with increasing Sb2O3 content, the ZnO grain size distribution become more homogeneous in the Sb2O3-doped ZnO varistors; the density Zn i × is decreased; except for less homogeneous V O × , more homogeneous distributions of Zn i ∙ in the depletion layers and the extrinsic defects at the interfaces are achieved in the Sb2O3-doped ZnO varistors. Therefore, the enhancement in the electrical properties was achieved by doping Sb2O3 due to the increased number of active grain boundaries per unit volume, i.e. the increased breakdown field and nonlinear coefficient, and the decreased leakage current density. The results of this study suggest that the Jonscher’s universal power law and the Dissado–Hill model can be effectively used to analyze defect distributions in varistor ceramics.

Simultaneously Enhanced Potential Gradient and Nonlinearity of ZnO Varistor Ceramics by MnO Doping with Nano-Sized ZnO Powders

ZnO varistor ceramics with a high potential gradient, as well as a high nonlinear coefficient, were reported and analyzed in this paper. With the use of nano-sized ZnO powders, the average grain size was reduced to about 2.6 μm, which successfully raised the potential gradient to 1172 V/mm. Moreover, the nonlinear coefficient increased to 48, and the leakage current was decreased to 8.4 μA/cm2 by doping a moderate amount of MnO (0.9 mol%). This was proven to be caused by the high Schottky barrier height formed at the grain boundary, where the Mn element segregated and, consequently, led to the increased density of interface states. Therefore, this could be considered as a potential method to simultaneously enhance the potential gradient and the nonlinear coefficient of ZnO varistor ceramics.

Stable high dimensional solitons in nonlocal competing cubic-quintic nonlinear media

We find and stabilize high dimensional dipole and quadrupole solitons in nonlocal competing cubic-quintic nonlinear media. By adjusting the propagation constant, cubic and quintic nonlinear coefficients, the stable intervals for dipole and quadrupole solitons which are parallel to $x$ axis and ones after rotating 45 degrees counterclockwise around the origin of coordinate are found. For the dipole solitons and ones after rotating, their stability is controlled by the propagation constant, the coefficients of cubic and quintic nonlinearity. For the quadrupole solitons, their stability is controlled by the propagation constant and the coefficient of cubic nonlinearity, rather than the coefficient of quintic nonlinearity, though there is a small effect of the quintic nonlinear coefficient on the stability. Our proposal may provide a way to generate and stabilize some novel high dimensional nonlinear modes in nonlocal system.

NONLINEAR PROPERTIES OF STRUCTURAL HETEROGENEOUS PHOTONIC CRYSTAL FIBERS WITH As2Se3 SUBSTRATE

We examine the possibility of improving the nonlinear properties of photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) with As2Se3 substrates by creating a difference in the diameters of the air holes of the rings around the core. With the new design, all-normal dispersion properties, small effective mode area, high nonlinear coefficient, and low confinement loss were achieved in the long-wavelength range of 2.0–7.0 µm. The highest nonlinear coefficient is 4414.918 W-1.km-1 at 4.5 µm for the lattice constant (Ʌ) of 3.0 µm and the filling factor (d/Ʌ) of 0.85, while the lowest loss is 1.823´10-21 dB/cm with Ʌ = 3.5 µm and d/Ʌ = 0.8. Based on the numerical simulation results, the characteristics of two optimal structures have been analyzed in detail to guide the application in supercontinuum generation.

Research on Residual Life Estimation Method for KMN Steel Based on Nonlinear Ultrasonic Testing

The testing of KMN steel bending fatigue with different cycles was carried out using a nonlinear ultrasonic detector to obtain its nonlinear coefficient. The experimental results show that the nonlinear coefficient first increases and then decreases with an increase in fatigue cycles. The relationship between the propagation of the micro-cracks inside the material and the nonlinear coefficient was researched by microscopic analysis in the dangerous position of the specimens. As the fatigue cycles increase, the microstructure of the specimen gradually deteriorates and cracks occur, which proves that nonlinear ultrasonic detection can be used to characterize the initiation of micro-cracks in the early fatigue stages of the material and that the nonlinear coefficient β of the material can be used to reflect the fatigue damage degree and fatigue life of the interior of the material. An analysis of the numerical statistics of the fatigue cracks inside the specimens was carried out, and the extreme value of fatigue cracks was calculated using the Gumbel distribution. An empirical formula for the nonlinear coefficient and crack growth size of KMN steel was established and then a method for estimating the fatigue life of KMN steel based on nonlinear ultrasonic testing was proposed.

Fatigue Damage Evaluation of Compressor Blade Based on Nonlinear Ultrasonic Nondestructive Testing

Nonlinear ultrasonic testing is highly sensitive to micro-defects and can be used to detect hidden damage and defects inside materials. At present, most tests are carried out on specimens, and there are few nonlinear ultrasonic tests for fatigue damage of compressor blades. A vibration fatigue test was carried out on compressor blade steel KMN, and blade specimens with different damage degrees were obtained. Then, the nonlinear coefficients of blade specimens were obtained by nonlinear ultrasonic testing. The results showed that the nonlinear coefficient increased with the increase in the number of fatigue cycles in the early stage of fatigue, and then the nonlinear coefficient decreased. The microstructures were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was proven that the nonlinear ultrasonic testing can be used for the detection of micro-cracks in the early stage of fatigue. Through the statistical analysis of the size of the micro-cracks inside the material, the empirical formula of the nonlinear coefficient β and the equivalent crack size were obtained. Combined with the β–S–N three-dimensional model, an evaluation method based on the nonlinear ultrasonic testing for the early fatigue damage of the blade was proposed.

Broadband highly efficient nonlinear optical processes in on-chip integrated lithium niobate microdisk resonators of Q-factor above 108

Microresonators of ultrahigh quality (Q) factors represent a crucial type of photonic devices aiming at ultra-high spectral resolution, ultra-high sensitivity to the environmental perturbations, and efficient nonlinear wavelength conversions at low threshold pump powers. Lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI) microdisks of high Q factors are particularly attractive due to its large second-order nonlinear coefficient and strong electro-optic property. In this Letter, we break through the long standing bottleneck in achieving the Q factors of LNOI micro-resonators beyond 108, which approaches the intrinsic material absorption limit of lithium niobate (LN). The ultra-high Q factors give rise to a rich family of nonlinear optical phenomena from optical parametric oscillation (OPO) to harmonics generation with unprecedented characteristics including ultra-low pump threshold, high wavelength conversion efficiency, and ultra-broad operation bandwidth. Specifically, the threshold of OPO is measured to be only 19.6 μW, and the absolute conversion efficiency observed in the second harmonic generation reaches 23%. The record-breaking performances of the on-chip ultra-high Q LNOI microresonators will have profound implication for both photonic research and industry.