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The present research demonstrates a novel 1D photonic crystal (PhC) based reconfigurable biosensor pertaining to label-free detection of different concentrations of progesterone and estradiol, which play a vital role in developing reproductive hormones in women. The proposed sensor is designed by an alternative arrangement of Na 3 AlF 6 and CeO 2 , with a central defect layer. A thin layer of novel phase change chalcogenide material (Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5 ) is deposited along the two sides of the defect layer to improve the sensing performance. Numerical simulation of transmission spectrum for TE mode is carried out by using the transfer matrix method (TMM). The mainstay of this research is centered on the assay of shift in the defect mode position and intensity with respect to different concentrations of analyte, by changing the phase of the GST material from amorphous to crystalline. Interestingly, we observed a high tunability in defect mode wavelength, when the phase is changed from amorphous to crystalline, which leads to accomplishment of a high sensitivity of 1.75 nm/nmol/L for progesterone and 20.5 nm/nmol/L for estradiol. Aside from sensitivity, other significant parameters like figure of merit and detection limit are computed, which give a deep insight into the sensing performance. These encouraging sensing performances pave the path for efficient detection of different concentrations of progesterone and estradiol to monitor various gynecological problems in women.

This paper reports about the outcomes from an investigation carried out on tunable biosensor for detection using infrared in the range of 1.5 µm and 1.65 µm. The biosensor is made of phase change material formed by different alloy combinations, Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5 (GST). The nature of GST allows for the material to change phase with changes in temperature, giving the tunable sensing property for biosensing application. Sensor built with amorphous GST (aGST) and crystalline GST (cGST) in different design structures were tested on different concentrations of biomolecules: hemoglobin (10 g/l, 20 g/l, 30 g/l and 40 g/l); and urine (0-1.5 mg/dL, 2.5 mg/dL, 5 mg/dL and 10 mg/dL). The tunable response observed from the tests demonstrates the potential application of the materials in the design of switching and sensing systems.

We present a graphene-based optical leaky wave antenna (OLWA) with diamond-shaped perturbations. The leaky wave antenna is created by applying diamond-shaped graphene perturbations to a Si3N4 waveguide. The leaky wave behavior is observed by changing the graphene chemical potential. Results in the form of leakage power, normalized directivity, and reflectance, transmittance, leakage power, normalized directivity, and normalized E-field are presented. The half power beamwidth (HPBW) of 1.2° is achieved by this antenna. The reflectance and transmittance are in a very low wavelength range between 1.4 and 1.6 µm throughout. The leakage of power is more for the lower graphene chemical potential. The graphene-based design is also compared to a gold-based design and silicon-based design to show the leakage comparison. The designed graphene-based OLWA can be used in medical sensing devices.

We investigated the effect of coupled quantum wells to reduce electron overflow in InGaN/GaN dot-in-a-wire phosphor-free white color light-emitting diodes (white LEDs) and to improve the device performance. The light output power and external quantum efficiency (EQE) of the white LEDs with coupled quantum wells were increased and indicated that the efficiency droop was reduced. The improved output power and EQE of LEDs with the coupled quantum wells were attributed to the significant reduction of electron overflow primarily responsible for efficiency degradation through the near-surface GaN region. Compared to the commonly used AlGaN electron blocking layer between the device active region and p-GaN, the incorporation of a suitable InGaN quantum well between the n-GaN and the active region does not adversely affect the hole injection process. Moreover, the electron transport to the device active region can be further controlled by optimizing the thickness and bandgap energy of this InGaN quantum well. In addition, a blue-emitting InGaN quantum well is incorporated between the quantum dot active region and the p-GaN, wherein electrons escaping from the device active region can recombine with holes and contribute to white-light emission. The resulting device exhibits high internal quantum efficiency of 58.5% with highly stable emission characteristics and virtually no efficiency droop.

In this paper, we present a numerical study of a metamaterial absorber that provides polarization-insensitive absorption over a broad bandwidth of operation over the mid-infrared region. The absorber consists of a periodically patterned metal-dielectric-metal structure integrated with an epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) nanolayer into the insulating dielectric gap region. Such an anomalous broadband absorber is achieved thanks to a couple of resonant modes including plasmon and ENZ modes that are excited under mid-IR light illumination. By adding a 0.06-μm-thick ENZ layer between the patterned gold rectangular grating and the SiO 2 dielectric layer, the absorber captures >95% light over a 1.5 µm bandwidth centered at a near-8-μm wavelength over a wide range of oblique incidence under transverse-magnetic and -electric polarizations. The designed ENZ-based wideband absorber has potential for many practical applications, including sensing, imaging and solar energy harvesting over a wide frequency regime., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

We present a numerical investigation of tapered arteries that addresses the transient simulation of non-Newtonian bio-magnetic fluid dynamics (BFD) of blood through a stenosis artery in the presence of a transverse magnetic field. The current model is consistent with ferro-hydrodynamic (FHD) and magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) principles. In the present work, blood in small arteries is analyzed using the Carreau-Yasuda model. The arterial wall is assumed to be fixed with cosine geometry for the stenosis. A parametric study was conducted to reveal the effects of the stenosis intensity and the Hartman number on a wide range of flow parameters, such as the flow velocity, temperature, and wall shear stress. Current findings are in a good agreement with recent findings in previous research studies. The results show that wall temperature control can keep the blood in its ideal blood temperature range (below 40°C) and that a severe pressure drop occurs for blockages of more than 60 percent. Additionally, with an increase in the Ha number, a velocity drop in the blood vessel is experienced.

In this study, we investigate optical properties of metal nanoparticle crystals fabricated by implanting copper (Cu) ions into single silica (SiO2) crystals with 400keV at various ion doses. The Cu implanted SiO2 (SiO2:Cu) crystal produces a broadband luminescence emission, ranging from blue to yellow, and having a blue luminescence peak at 546nm. Such anomalous luminescence emission bands suggest that the ion implantation may give rise to aggregation of Cu nanoparticles in the host matrix. The boundary element method-based modelling of a given Cu nanoparticle aggregation was employed to justify the broadband luminescence emission. Formation of Cu nanoparticles in SiO2 is predicted through their optical absorption data. The experimental results are compared with results of Mie calculations and we observe that the higher ion dose produces the larger particle size., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

To improve the output power of a photomixer used as a THz source, we propose a four-leaf-clover-shaped antenna structure composed of a highly resonant radiation element and a stable DC feed element. The resonance characteristics of the proposed structure were first investigated on a half-infinite substrate as a simplified radiation environment to reduce the computation time. Based on the antenna characteristics on that half-infinite substrate, the antenna structure was designed to have a maximum total efficiency and a maximum directivity on an extended hemispherical lens. The input resistance of this structure was six times that of a full-wavelength dipole, significantly improving the mismatch efficiency between a photomixer and the antenna. The terahertz output power from this structure is expected to be 2.7 times that of a full-wavelength dipole.