Search Results (3)

Free space optical communication (FSOC) systems operating in the space–atmosphere channel are susceptible to severe turbulence-induced scintillation, particularly in up-link configurations where the adaptive optics (AO) pre-correction becomes ineffective due to anisoplanatic constraints. This study presents a novel scintillation suppression strategy utilizing self-focusing optical pin-like beams (OPBs) with tailored phase modulation, combining theoretical derivation and numerical simulation. It is found that increasing the shape factor γ and modulation depth C elevates the average received power and reduces the scintillation index at the focal point. Meanwhile, quantitative evaluation of the five OPB configurations shows that the parameter set γ = 1.4 and C = 7 × 10⁻⁵ gives a peak scintillation suppression efficiency. It shows that turbulence induced scintillation is suppressed by 44% with the turbulence intensity D/r₀ = 10, demonstrating exceptional effectiveness in up-link transmission. The findings demonstrate that OPB with optimized γ and C establish an approach for uplink FSOC, which is achieved through suppressed scintillation and stabilized power reception. Full article

In multicomponent thin films, properties and functionalities related to post-deposition annealing treatments, such as thermal stability, optical absorption and surface morphology are typically rationalized, neglecting the role of the substrate. Here, we show the role of the substrate in determining the temperature dependent behaviour of a paradigmatic two-component nanogranular thin film (Ag/TiO₂) deposited by gas phase supersonic cluster beam deposition (SCBD) on silica and sapphire. Up to 600 °C, no TiO₂ grain growth nor crystallization is observed, likely inhibited by the Zener pinning pressure exerted by the Ag nanoparticles on the TiO₂ grain boundaries. Above 600 °C, grain coalescence, formation of However, the two substrates steer the evolution of the film morphology and optical properties in two different directions. anatase and rutile phases and drastic modification of the optical absorption are observed. On silica, Ag is still present as NPs distributed into the TiO₂ matrix, while on sapphire, hundreds of nm wide Ag aggregates appear on the film surface. Moreover, the silica-deposited film shows a broad absorption band in the visible range while the sapphire-deposited film becomes almost transparent for wavelengths above 380 nm. We discuss this result in terms of substrate differences in thermal conductivity, thermal expansion coefficient and Ag diffusivity. The study of the substrate role during annealing is possible since SCBD allows the synthesis of the same film independently of the substrate, and suggests new perspectives on the thermodynamics and physical exchanges between thin films and their substrates during heat treatments. Full article

Recently we used the heavy ion microprobe of the Buenos Aires TANDAR Laboratory for Single Event Effects (SEE) and Total Dose (TD) experiments in electronics devices and components, requiring very low beam currents. The facility includes a fast beam switch that allows the control of the ion beam current and a mobile Si PIN (p-type, intrinsic, n-type) diode that directly measures the number of ions hitting the device. The fast beam deflector was used to reduce the current by producing a pulsed beam or generating a quasi-continuous (Poisson-like distributed) beam with currents ranging from tens to hundreds of ions/s. As an application for this current control method we present a single event effect (SEE) pulses map generated by a ³²S⁸⁺ beam at 75 MeV on two 0.5 µm technology CMOS digital output buffers where the device was formed by cascading four CMOS inverters with increasing sizes from input to output to drive large loads. Using the same concept of pulse width modulated deflection, we developed a novel gradient scanning method. This system allows to produce in a single irradiation a distribution with a cumulative damage with a difference of two orders of magnitude at constant gradient. To demonstrate the method, we irradiated a lithium niobate monocrystal with ³²S⁸⁺ beam at 75 MeV energy and later analyzed the produced damage by the micro-Raman technique and an optical profilometer. Full article