National Institute Of Materials Physics - Romania

Microspherical lenses (50 divided by 800 mu m in diameter) based on glassy As(2)S(3), have been produced by a special flame melting technique. The microlenses have been used for focusing the red - infrared laser light at the end of an optical fiber. Microlens arrays have been produced and applied in coupling optical fibers to a light remitting diode (LED), in order to increase the intensity. A double ball lens coupling scheme has been designed and manufactured.

In this paper, surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) studies on the chemical polymerization of 3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene (EDOT) in the presence of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are reported. Both a non-covalent and covalent functionalization of SWNTs with poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene) (PEDOT) is invoked as a result of the following variations induced in the SERS spectra of PEDOT and SWNTs: (i) the appearance of a Raman line at 140 cm(-1) indicating the formation of a new covalent bond between PEDOT and SWNTs; (ii) an increase in the intensity of the Raman line at 705 cm(-1), associated with the deformation vibration mode of C-S-C bond, the result of a steric hindrance effect induced by the bonding of PEDOT on SWNTs; and (iii) the enhancement of the Raman band with maximum at 1540 cm(-1) (G(-) component) in SWNTs when the PEDOT weight in the PEDOT/SWNTs composite increases. Using the PEDOT/SWNTs composite as a positive electrode and an electrolytic solution containing LiPF6, the charge-discharge characteristics of the rechargeable lithium cells are determined. High specific discharge capacity are reported for the PEDOT/SWNTs composite (ca. 218 mAh g(-1)) in comparison with PEDOT doped with FeCl4- ions (ca. 25 mAh g(-1)).

The electrochemical polymerization of N-ethyl carbazole (EK) on carbon nanotubes (CNs) films immersed in a LiClO4/acetonitrile solution was studied by cyclic voltammetry. Cyclic voltammo-grams recorded on a blank Pt electrode were compared with those obtained when CNs films were deposited on a Pt plate. In the latter case, the oxidation maximum is not clearly observed. Using the Raman scattering studies, oligomers of poly(N-ethyl carbazole) (PEK) on CNs are shown to be formed. A covalent functionalization of CNs with the PEK oligomers is demonstrated by FTIR spectroscopy studies. The formation of new C-C covalent bonds between CNs and the benzene ring of PEK induces steric hindrance effects that are shown in FTIR spectra by the increase in the intensity of the absorption band at 1072 cm(-1) attributed to the vibration of C-H in plane deformation of aromatic ring. The influence of the monomer and the supporting electrolyte concentration as well as the sweep rate on the polymerization conditions in the case of the composites based on the PEK oligomers and CNs were also investigated.

Undoped and Eu3+-doped CaF2-SiO2 gels were prepared by the sol-gel method and their optical properties have been studied. The UV-VIS-NIR absorption and photoluminescence spectra have shown the bands typical for the Eu3+ ions transitions. When the Eu-doped gel is annealed at temperatures up to 800 degrees C (i.e. above the CaF2 crystallisation peak at similar to 460 degrees C) the photoluminescence spectra intensity increase, the 590 nm (D-5(0) -> F-7(1)) and 620 nm (D-5(0) -> F-7(2)) luminescence bands become comparable and a structuring of the 620 nm band is observed. The phonon sidebands peaks associated with the F-5(0) -> D-7(2) transition of the Eu3+ ion were observed at around 1000 and 620 cm(-1) and have been assigned to the Si-O and Ca-O bonds, respectively. A phonon sideband signal in the range of 3007400 cm(-1) was attributed to Ca-F bonds in the precipitated CaF2 phase. From the optical absorption, photoluminescence and phonon sidebands spectra we have concluded that in the gels annealed at 800 degrees C, the Eu3+ ions are incorporated into the silica network and in the precipitated CaF2 phase. (c) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Chalcogenide glasses can be tailored for getting special configurations with photonic crystal properties A review on the advances in chalcogenide glass photonics is given Several methods to prepare two-dimensional photonic As-S glass and three-dimensional packing have been developed, and the photonic structures have been characterized Numerical simulations have also been performed The chalcogenide photonic structures fabricated by micro-technological procedures are described and tuned to work in the far infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum

Optical techniques allowing observations and spectroscopic investigations of materials at a nanoscale have been recently developed and applied to carbon nanotubes. They are briefly presented, including Scanning near-field optical microscopy, together with the Surface Enhanced or Tip Enhanced Raman Scattering. Even if new physical properties are difficult to extract from observed data, we show that nanostructures can generate non linear phenomena that can be exploited for studying nano-materials and in particular carbon nanotubes. By measuring the anti-Stokes/Stokes ratios of the Raman bands which present strong anomalies with respect to the prediction of the Maxwell-Boltzman law, one can distinguish between semi-conducting and metallic tubes on one hand and between isolated and bundled nanotubes on the other hand.

Experimental results for the temperature dependence of the density of propyl - cyanobiphenyl (3CB), butyl - cyanobiphenyl (4CB) and hexyl - cyanobiphenyl (6CB) are presented. The results arc compared with previous results for temperature dependence of other members of the alkyl cyanobiphenyl series (nCB). The deviation of the density from linear temperature dependence is discussed in terms of the recently discovered corresponding rule for nematic liquid crystals. (C) 2009 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

PbI2, BiI3, CdI2 and AgI crystalline samples intercalated with pyridine have been studied by Raman spectroscopy. Comparing the Raman spectra of pristine metal iodides with those of intercalated samples we have shown the coexistence, in the host crystalline lattice, of two adsorbed forms: a physisorbed one, featured by weak forces of van der Waals type and a chemisorbed one, involving stronger forces related to an electrostatic interaction. The physisorbed form is consistent with the molecules inserted into the interlayer spaces while the chemisorbed form is represented by the molecules forming coordination complexes with the crystalline lattice cations. The crucial role in the formation of such complexes is played by the lone pair of nitrogen atom belonging to the molecules.

The processes associated with the electrodeposition of thermoelectric Bi(2)(Se,Te)(3) nanowires are reported along with an analysis of the composition, morphology and structure of resulting material. Electrochemical behavior was examined using cyclic and linear voltarnmetry techniques. Energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX) indicates that the composition of self-standing Bi(2)(Se, Te)(3) wires can be controlled by the electrodeposition method. The composition of Bi(2)(Se,Te)(3) Wires prepared at a potential of -0.01V vs SCE is close to Bi(2)Te(27)Se(0.3). The structure and morphology of Bi(2)(Se,Te)(3) nanowires were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).

Films of different thickness (50,100,150 and 200 nm) were deposited by thermal evaporation in vacuum on two types of substrates glass and ITO. The deposition was performed under a pressure of 10(-6) mB with a rate of 0.25 nm/s. Films surface investigations showed morphological and structural changes in function of films thickness and the nature of the substrate. Films optical transmission was analysed in the 280-1600 nm spectral range and the electrical measurements were done in low vacuum (10(-1):10(-2) mB) and in dark. (c) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.