The use of direct variational methods based on Rayleigh-Ritz optimization for finding approximate solutions to various nonlinear evolution equations was presented. The main advantage of the approach is that it provides simple and explicit expressions for physically relevant quantities where exact analytical solutions are not available. It is found that the given method is flexible and can be applied to stationary and dynamical problems.

Organic electrochemical transistors formed by in operando electropolymerization of the semiconducting channel are increasingly becoming recognized as a simple and effective implementation of synapses in neuromorphic hardware. However, very few studies have reported the requirements that must be met to ensure that the polymer spreads along the substrate to form a functional conducting channel. The nature of the interface between the substrate and various monomer precursors of conducting polymers through molecular dynamics simulations is investigated, showing that monomer adsorption to the substrate produces an increase in the effective monomer concentration at the surface. By evaluating combinatorial couples of monomers baring various sidechains with differently functionalized substrates, it is shown that the interactions between the substrate and the monomer precursor control the lateral growth of a polymer film along an inert substrate. This effect has implications for fabricating synaptic systems on inexpensive, flexible substrates. © 2022 The Authors. 

The knowledge of the luminance coefficient q or of the reduced luminance coefficient r of road surface is an unavoidable requirement for designing road lighting installations able to assure adequate road luminance for visual conditions, energy consumption and traffic safety according to standard requirements. Unfortunately q available data refers to measurements made during the seventies with no traceability or measurement uncertainty. In the last 40 years the road surfaces pavements evolved as well the road lighting sources and luminaires. EMPIR project SURFACE will provide validated, optimised and reliable geometrical conditions for the measurement of q as well as reference data representative of current road pavements and future needs, as support of the European Standardisation process, CIE and European Metrology infrastructure.

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is a powerful sensing technique. However, the employment of SERS sensors in practical applications is hindered by high fabrication costs from processes with limited scalability, poor batch-to-batch reproducibility, substrate stability, and uniformity. Here, highly scalable and reproducible flame aerosol technology is employed to rapidly self-assemble uniform SERS sensing films. Plasmonic Ag nanoparticles are deposited on substrates as nanoaggregates with fine control of their interparticle distance. The interparticle distance is tuned by adding a dielectric spacer during nanoparticle synthesis that separates the individual Ag nanoparticles within each nanoaggregate. The dielectric spacer thickness dictates the plasmonic coupling extinction of the deposited nanoaggregates and finely tunes the Raman hotspots. By systematically studying the optical and morphological properties of the developed SERS surfaces, structure–performance relationships are established and the optimal hot-spots occur for interparticle distance of 1 to 1.5 nm among the individual Ag nanoparticles, as also validated by computational modeling, are identified for the highest signal enhancement of a molecular Raman reporter. Finally, the superior stability and batch-to-batch reproducibility of the developed SERS sensors are demonstrated and their potential with a proof-of-concept practical application in food-safety diagnostics for pesticide detection on fruit surfaces is explored. © 2022 The Authors.

The work presented in this report focuses on estimating maximum gas temperatures at ceiling level during large tunnel fires. Gas temperature is an important parameter to consider when designing the fire resistance of a tunnel structure. Earlier work by the authors has established correlations between excess ceiling gas temperature and effective tunnel height, ventilation rate, and heat release rate. The maximum possible excess gas temperature was set as 1350°C, independent of the tunnel structure and local combustion conditions. As a result of this research, two models have been developed to better estimate possible excess maximum gas temperatures for large tunnel fires in tunnels with differing lining materials and structure types (e.g. rock, concrete). These have been validated using both model- and full-scale tests. Comparisons of predicted and measured temperatures show that both models correlate well with the test data. However, Model I is better and more optimal, due to the fact that it is more conservative and easier to use. The fire duration and flame volume are found to be related to gas temperature development. In reality, the models could also be used to estimate temperatures in a fully developed compartment fire.

This paper reports on results from a study of characteristics for 3D soft surrogate vehicle targets. Such targets are used extensively for testing and verification of optical sensor systems for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems and Automated Driving. However, the influence of wear-and-tear on the vehicle target is not well known. Consequently, no clear requirement exists on how many collisions a soft target can be exposed to before it no longer performs well.

Important characteristics for optical sensor systems are surface reflectance in the relevant wavelength range and geometry of the soft target. We report on measurements of spectral reflectivity and geometry performed before, during and after an accelerated ageing campaign involving 100 rear-end collisions at 50 km/h. The reflectivity was found to change very little while the geometry was strongly affected.

Structural transformations and lattice expansion of oleate-capped iron oxide nanocube superlattices are studied by time-resolved small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) during solvent removal. The combination of conductor-like screening model for real solvents (COSMO-RS) theory with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling provides information on the solvent composition and polarity during droplet evaporation. Evaporation-driven poor-solvent enrichment in the presence of free oleic acid results in the formation of superlattices with a tilted face-centered cubic (fcc) structure when the polarity reaches its maximum. The tilted fcc lattice expands subsequently during the removal of the poor solvent and eventually transforms to a regular simple cubic (sc) lattice during the final evaporation stage when only free oleic acid remains. Comparative studies show that both the increase in polarity as the poor solvent is enriched and the presence of a sufficient amount of added oleic acid is required to promote the formation of structurally diverse superlattices with large domain sizes. © 2022 The Authors. 

We demonstrate a 200 Gbaud OOK link without any optical amplification using C-band externally modulated laser with 3.3 dBm of modulated output power. We achieve below 6.25% overhead HD-FEC threshold after 200 meters of SMF. © 2022 The Author(s)

Record 11 Gb/s LWIR FSO transmission is demonstrated with a 9.6-μm directly-modulated QCL and a fully passive QCD without cooling, surpassing the previous bitrate record of DM-QCL-based FSO in this spectral window by 4 times. © 2022 The Author(s)

Idag kan alla måttenheter härledas från SI-systemets sju basenheter (meter, kilogram, sekund, kelvin, candela, ampere, mol). Genom nya forskningsframsteg planeras nu en reformering av SI-systemet. Förändringen förväntas att bli beslutad 2018, och forskare på alla länders olika Nationella Metrologiinstitut jobbar nu med förberedelserna för att införa det nya SI-systemet.

A pilot-scale process for continuous in-flow microwave processing of foods, designed and implemented at SP Food and Bioscience, was evaluated for heat treatment of a homogeneous model food for high-temperature short-time (HTST) conditions, at constant total input microwave power, at 2450 MHz. The microwave system has three consecutive cavities, one excited by the TM₀₂₀ microwave mode that heats primarily in the tube centre, and two TM₁₂₀ mode cavities that heat primarily in the tube periphery. The temperature uniformity of the homogeneous model food after microwave heating is here evaluated in terms of spatial distribution, for different set-ups of input microwave power in each cavity and for different order of the placement of the cavities, while maintaining the total input microwave power. The microwave heating uniformity is evaluated, based on measured and calculated radial temperature profiles. Combined TM₀₂₀ and TM₁₂₀ heating was found to result in more uniform heating by means of spatial temperature uniformity over the tube cross section. Furthermore, appropriately selected microwave power distribution between the centre and periphery heating cavities results in a stable heating profile in the studied food, that differs only about 10 °C or less between highest and lowest average values directly after microwave heating.

Spectral broadening of optical frequency combs with high repetition rate is of significant interest in optical communications, radio-frequency photonics and spectroscopy. Silicon nitride waveguides (Si3N4) in the anomalous dispersion region have shown efficient supercontinuum generation spanning an octave-bandwidth. However, the broadening mechanism in this regime is usually attained with femtosecond pulses in order to maintain the coherence. Supercontinuum generation in the normal dispersion regime is more prone to longer (ps) pulses, but the implementation in normal dispersion silicon nitride waveguides is challenging as it possesses strong requirements in propagation length and losses. Here, we experimentally demonstrate the use of a Si3N4 waveguide to perform coherent spectral broadening using pulses in the picosecond regime with high repetition rate. Moreover, our work explores the formation of optical wave breaking using a higher energy pulse which enables the generation of a coherent octave spanning spectrum. These results offer a new prospect for coherent broadening using long duration pulses and replacing bulky optical components.

The dimensions of the material serving as the channel in organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) are important for the overall switching performance. Here, a laser ablation step is included in the OECT manufacturing process, in an attempt to shorten the channel length of the OECT. The source and drain electrodes are formed by laser ablation of a previously screen printed carbon-based rectangle, which in this study resulted in an average channel length equal to 25 µm. All other processing steps rely on screen printing, allowing for large-area manufacturing of OECTs and OECT-based circuits on flexible substrates. This approach results in a manufacturing yield of 89%; 178 out of a total of 200 OECTs exhibited an ON/OFF ratio exceeding 1000 with a statistical mean value of 28 000 and reproducible switching performance. OECT-based circuits, here demonstrated by a logic inverter, provide a reasonably high voltage gain of 12. The results thus demonstrate another reliable OECT manufacturing process, based on the combination of laser ablation and screen printing.

Organic electronic circuits based on organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) are attracting great attention due to their printability, flexibility, and low voltage operation. Inverters are the building blocks of digital logic circuits (e.g., NAND gates) and analog circuits (e.g., amplifiers). However, utilizing OECTs in electronic logic circuits is challenging due to the resulting low voltage gain and low output voltage levels. Hence, inverters capable of operating at relatively low supply voltages, yet offering high voltage gain and larger output voltage windows than the respective input voltage window are desired. Herein, inverters realized from poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate-based OECTs are designed and explored, resulting in logic inverters exhibiting high voltage gains, enlarged output voltage windows, and tunable switching points. The inverter designs are based on multiple screen-printed OECTs and a resistor ladder, where one OECT is the driving transistor while one or two additional OECTs are used as variable resistors in the resistor ladder. The inverters’ performances are investigated in terms of voltage gain, output voltage levels, and switching point. Inverters, operating at +/−2.5 V supply voltage and an input voltage window of 1 V, that can achieve an output voltage window with ∼110% increment and a voltage gain up to 42 are demonstrated. © 2022 The Authors.