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Interferenceless coded aperture correlation holography (I-COACH) is one of the simplest incoherent holography techniques. In I-COACH, the light from an object is modulated by a coded mask, and the resulting intensity distribution is recorded. The 3D image of the object is reconstructed by processing the object intensity distribution with the pre-recorded 3D point spread intensity distributions. The first version of I-COACH was implemented using a scattering phase mask, which makes its implementation challenging in light-sensitive experiments. The I-COACH technique gradually evolved with the advancement in the engineering of coded phase masks that retain randomness but improve the concentration of light in smaller areas in the image sensor. In this direction, I-COACH was demonstrated using weakly scattered intensity patterns, dot patterns and recently using accelerating Airy patterns, and the case with accelerating Airy patterns exhibited the highest SNR. In this study, we propose and demonstrate I-COACH with an ensemble of self-rotating beams. Unlike accelerating Airy beams, self-rotating beams exhibit a better energy concentration. In the case of self-rotating beams, the uniqueness of the intensity distributions with depth is attributed to the rotation of the intensity pattern as opposed to the shifts of the Airy patterns, making the intensity distribution stable along depths. A significant improvement in SNR was observed in optical experiments.

Direct imaging systems that create an image of an object directly on the sensor in a single step are prone to many constraints as a perfect image is required to be recorded within this step. In designing high resolution direct imaging systems with a diffractive lens, the outermost zone width either reaches the lithography limit or the diffraction limit itself imposing challenges in fabrication. However, if the imaging mode is switched to an indirect one consisting of multiple steps to complete imaging, then different possibilities open up. One such methods is the widely used indirect imaging method with Golay configuration telescopes. In this study, a Golay-like configuration has been adapted to realize a large area diffractive lens with three sub-aperture diffractive lenses. The sub-aperture diffractive lenses are not required to collect light and focus them to a single point as in a direct imaging system but to focus independently on different points within the sensor area. This approach of Large Area Diffractive lens with Integrated Sub-Apertures (LADISA) relaxes the fabrication constraints and allows the sub-aperture diffractive elements to have a larger outermost zone width and smaller area. The diffractive sub-apertures were manufactured using photolithography. The fabricated diffractive element has been implemented in indirect imaging mode using non-linear reconstruction and Lucy-Richardson-Rosen algorithm with synthesized point spread functions. The computational optical experiments revealed an improved optical and computational imaging resolutions compared to previous studies.

A refractive lens is one of the simplest, cost-effective and easily available imaging elements. With a spatially incoherent illumination, a refractive lens can faithfully map every object point to an image point in the sensor plane, when the object and image distances satisfy the imaging conditions. However, static imaging is limited to the depth of focus, beyond which the point-to-point mapping can be only obtained by changing either the location of the lens or the imaging sensor. In this study, the depth of focus of a refractive lens in static mode has been expanded using a recently developed computational reconstruction method, Lucy-Richardson-Rosen algorithm (LRRA). The technique consists of three steps. In this first step, the point spread functions (PSFs) were recorded along different depths and stored in the computer as PSF library. In the next step, the object intensity distribution was recorded. The LRRA was then applied to deconvolve the object information from the recorded intensity distributions in the final step. The results of LRRA were compared against two well-known reconstruction methods namely Lucy-Richardson algorithm and non-linear reconstruction.

Due to the several applications of biosensors, such as magnetic hyperthermia and magnetic resonance imaging, the use of superparamagnetic nanoparticles or thin films for preparing biosensors has increased greatly. We report herein on a strategy to fabricate a nanostructure composed of superparamagnetic thin films. Ruthenium-doped iron oxide thin films were deposited by using atomic layer deposition at 270 and 360 °C. FeCl3 and Ru(EtCp)2 were used as metal precursors and H2O/O2 as the oxygen precursor. Doping with ruthenium helps to lower the formation temperature of hematite (α-Fe2O3). Ruthenium content was changed from 0.42 at% up to 29.7 at%. Ru-doped films had a nano-crystallized structure of hematite with nanocrystal sizes from 4.4 up to 7.8 nm. Magnetization at room temperature was studied in iron oxide and Ru-doped iron oxide films. A new finding is a demonstration that in a Ru-doped iron oxide thin film superparamagnetic behavior of nanocrystalline materials (α-Fe2O3) is observed with the maximum magnetic coercive force Hc of 3 kOe. Increasing Ru content increased crystallite size of hematite and resulted in a lower blocking temperature.

The oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity and stability of Pt catalysts deposited on graphene-coated alumina nanofibres (GCNFs) were investigated. The GCNFs were fabricated by catalyst-free chemical vapour deposition. Pt nanoparticles (NPs) were deposited on the nanofibres by sonoelectrochemical and plasma-assisted synthesis methods. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy analyses revealed different surface morphologies of the prepared Pt catalysts, depending on the synthesis procedure. Sonoelectrochemical deposition resulted in a uniform distribution of smaller Pt NPs on the support surface, while plasma-assisted synthesis, along with well-dispersed smaller Pt NPs, led to particle agglomeration at certain nucleation sites. Further details about the surface features were obtained from cyclic voltammetry and CO stripping experiments in 0.1 M HClO4 solution. Rotating disk electrode investigations revealed that the Pt/GCNF catalyst is more active towards the ORR in acid media than the commercial Pt/C (20 wt%). The prepared catalyst also showed significantly higher durability than commercial Pt/C, with no change in the half-wave potential after 10 000 potential cycles.

Producción Científica, Thin HfO2 films were grown by atomic layer deposition on chemical vapor-deposited large-area graphene. The graphene was transferred, prior to the deposition of the HfO2 overlayer, to the HfO2 bottom dielectric layer pregrown on the Si/TiN substrate. Either HfCl4 or Hf[N(CH3)(C2H5)]4 was used as the metal precursor for the bottom layer. The O2 plasma-assisted process was applied for growing HfO2 from Hf[N(CH3)(C2H5)]4 also on the top of graphene. To improve graphene transfer, the effects of the surface pretreatments of the as-grown and aged Si/TiN/HfO2 substrates were studied and compared. The graphene layer retained its integrity after the plasma processes. Studies on resistive switching on HfO2-graphene-HfO2 nanostructures revealed that the operational voltage ranges in the graphene-HfO2 stacks were modified together with the ratios between high- and low-resistance states., Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (projects TK134 and TK141), Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (project TEC2017-84321-C4-2-R), Estonian Research Agency (projects PRG4 and PRG753)

Graphene has been recognized as a promising gas sensing material. The response of graphene-based sensors can be radically improved by introducing defects in graphene using, e. g., metal or metal oxide nanoparticles. We have functionalised CVD grown, single layer graphene by applying pulsed laser deposition (PLD) of V2O5 which resulted in a thin V2O5 layer on graphene with average thickness of ~0.6 nm. According to Raman analysis, PLD process also induced defects in graphene. Compared to unmodified graphene, the obtained chemiresistive sensor showed considerable improvement of sensing ammonia at room temperature. In addition, also the response time, sensitivity and reversibility were essentially enhanced due to graphene functionalisation by laser deposited V2O5. This can be explained by increased surface density of gas adsorption sites introduced by high energy atoms in laser ablation plasma and formation of nanophase boundaries between deposited V2O5 and graphene., Comment: 22 pages, 6 figures

Producción Científica, ZrO2-graphene-ZrO2 layered structures were built and their crystallinity was characterized before resistive switching measurements. Thin nanocrystalline ZrO2 dielectric films were grown by atomic layer deposition on chemical vapor deposited graphene. Graphene was transferred, prior to the growth of the ZrO2 overlayer, to the ZrO2 film pre-grown on titanium nitride. Nucleation and growth of the top ZrO2 layer was improved after growing an amorphous Al2O3 interface layer on graphene at lowered temperatures. Studies on resistive switching in such structures revealed that the exploitation of graphene interlayers could modify the operational voltage ranges and somewhat increase the ratio between high and low resistance states., Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (project TK134), Estonian Research Agency (grants PRG753 and PRG4), Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (grant TEC2017-84321-C4-2-R)

Exceptionally sensitive and selective graphene-based chemiresistive gas sensors were produced as a result of graphene functionalisation with a sub-nanometer V2O5 layer by using the method of pulsed laser deposition. Two different types of graphene were used—epitaxial graphene on SiC and CVD graphene on Si/SiO2—and both showed remarkable enhancement of sensing properties in terms of response and recovery speed, response magnitude and selectiveness towards NH3 gas. The epitaxial graphene-based sensor was demonstrating the highest relative response towards ammonia amounting to 80% for 0.1 ppm NH3.

Graphene layers grown by chemical vapour deposition (CVD) method and transferred from Cu-foils to the oxidized Si-substrates were investigated by spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE), Raman and X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) methods. The optical properties of transferred CVD graphene layers do not always correspond to the ones of the exfoliated graphene due to the contamination from the chemicals used in the transfer process. However, the real thickness and the mean properties of the transferred CVD graphene layers can be found using ellipsometry if a real thickness of the SiO2 layer is taken into account. The pulsed layer deposition (PLD) and atomic layer deposition (ALD) methods were used to grow dielectric layers on the transferred graphene and the obtained structures were characterized using optical methods. The approach demonstrated in this work could be useful for the characterization of various materials grown on graphene., Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables, presented on "Solid State Surfaces and Interfaces", November 2016 Piestany, Slovakia

New corrosion-resistant hybrid coatings based on graphene and polypyrrole were prepared and studied. A two-step process was used to fabricate the coatings. First, graphene was grown on a commercial copper foil by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. As the coating consisting only from graphene was imperfect, the defects were sealed with polypyrrole using electrodeposition. Corrosion resistance of copper, copper with CVD-graphene coating, and copper with CVD-graphene/polypyrrole hybrid coating were tested by immersion in salt water and also studied by open circuit potential measurements of the samples under ultraviolet radiation exposure, linear sweep voltammetry and cyclic voltammetry. The surfaces of the samples were also characterized by different microscopy and Raman spectroscopy methods. Although CVD graphene protected copper against corrosion in a certain extent, immersion tests revealed that the metal corrosion is mainly due to the graphene defects. The hybrid coatings showed much better anticorrosion performance.

Atomic layer deposition of ZrO2 films from tris(dimethylamino)cyclopentadienylzirconium CpZr(NMe2)3 and H2O, was investigated using real-time characterization of the growth process and post-growth measurements of the films. Self-limited nature of the deposition process was observed at substrate temperatures ranging from 120 to 350 °C. In this temperature range growth rate of 0.08–0.1 nm per cycle was obtained on silicon substrates. The films deposited on silicon substrates at 200 °C and higher temperatures contained tetragonal and monoclinic phases of ZrO2. The phase composition of the films depended on the deposition temperature as well as on the film thickness. The concentration of carbon residues decreased with increasing deposition temperature and did not exceed 0.9 at.% in the films deposited at 250 °C and higher temperatures. The refractive indices and densities of films grown from CpZr(NMe2)3 and H2O at 250–350 °C ranged from 2.15 to 2.20 (at a wavelength of 633 nm) and 5.6 to 6.0 g/cm3, respectively, being close to the highest values obtained for films deposited from ZrCl4 and H2O. The former process ensured, however, more uniform nucleation of ZrO2 on graphene than the latter process did.

A systematic experimental Raman spectroscopic study of twisted bilayer graphene (tBLG) domains localized inside wide-area single layer graphene (SLG) produced by low-pressure CVD on Cu foil and transferred onto SiO2/Si substrate has been performed. According to the Raman characterization the tBLG domains had a great variety of twisting angles θ between the bottom and top graphene layers (6° < θ < 25°). The twisting angle θ was estimated from the spectral position of the rotating R and R' modes in the Raman spectrum.Under G band resonance conditions the breathing mode ZO' with a frequency of 95- 97 cm−1 was detected, and a breathing mode ZO was found in the spectra between 804 cm−1 and 836 cm−1, its position depending on the twisting angle θ. An almost linear relationship was found between the frequencies ωZO and ωR. Also a few other spectral peculiarities were found, e.g. a high-energy excitation of the G band resonance, the 2G overtone appearing at 3170-3180 cm−1 by the G band resonance, revealing a linear dispersion of 80 cm−1/eV of the 2D band in tBLG

We have synthesized single-layer graphene on Cu foils using chemical vapor deposition method and transferred the graphene to the top of a Si/SiO2 substrate with a pair of prefabricated Ti/Au electrodes. A resistive graphene-based gas sensor prepared in this way revealed n-type oxygen response at room temperature and we have successfully fitted the data obtained with varying oxygen levels using a two-site Langmuir model. P-type oxygen response of our sensor was observed after the temperature was raised to 100 oC, with a reversible transition to n-type behaviour when the temperature was lowered back to room temperature. Such inversion of the gas response type with temperature was interpreted as a result of interplay between the adsorbate-induced charge transfer and charge carrier scattering. The transduction function was derived, which relates the electrical response to surface coverage through both the induced mobility and charge density changes., 8 figures, in press, accepted manuscript. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical (2013)

Laser processing of graphene is of great interest for cutting, patterning and structural engineering purposes. Tunable nanosecond lasers have the advantage of being relatively widespread (compared to e.g. femtosecond or high-power continuous wave lasers). Hereby we have conducted an investigation of the impact of nanosecond laser pulses on CVD graphene. The damage produced by sufficiently strong single shots (pulse width 5 ns, wavelength 532 or 266 nm) from tunable optical parametric oscillator was investigated by the methods of scanning electron microscopy and optical microspectroscopy (Raman and fluorescence). Threshold of energy density for producing visible damage was found to be ~200 mJ/cm 2 . For UV irradiation the threshold could be notably less depending on the origin of sample. Surprisingly strong fluorescence signal was recorded from damaged areas and is attributed to the residues of oxidized graphene.

Immobilization of fluorescent nanoparticles on graphene is an important step in the assembly of certain graphene-based photonic devices as well as in optical visualization of graphene and its defects. Hereby we report a viable approach to deposit diamond nanoparticles on a wide-area graphene substrate. It is demonstrated that a suitable plasma treatment leads to a selective immobilization of deposited nanodiamond on graphene with practically no agglomeration. Absence of photoemission from the individual adsorbed diamond nanoparticles suggests an energy transfer from the excited N-V centers to graphene.

Photo-induced changes in the electrical conductivity and the sensitivity to oxygen gas of graphene sheets grown by chemical vapor deposition and transferred onto Al2O3 and SiO2 thin film substrates were studied at ambient conditions. The pristine graphene sensors were initially completely insensitive to oxygen gas at room temperature but showed significant (up to 100%) response when illuminated with weak ultraviolet (300 nm or 365 nm) light. Oxygen response was governed by Langmuir law and its activation was insensitive to humidity. The mechanism of sensitization is analyzed together with other photo-induced effects—negative persistent photo-conduction and photo-induced hysteresis of field effect transistor characteristics. While the reduction of conductivity in air is persistent effect, the oxygen sensitization and enlargement of hysteresis take place only under the direct influence of light. It is concluded that the charge traps with differently adsorbed oxygen and water are involved in these phenomena.

Seed-layer approach was studied to initiate atomic layer deposition (ALD) of Al2O3 films on graphene. Low-temperature ALD and electron beam evaporation (EBE) were applied for seed-layer preparation before deposition of the dielectric at 200 °C using trimethyl-aluminum and water or ozone as precursors. To characterize nucleation of the films and possible influence of the ALD processes on the quality of graphene, properties of graphene and Al2O3 films were investigated by Raman spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy methods. The results suggest that seed layer formation by low-temperature ALD was more efficient in the O3-based process than in the H2O-based one while EBE seed layer provided fastest growth of Al2O3 together with minimum incubation period.