Flat Light Source Research Articles

Paper-based isotachophoretic preconcentration technique for low-cost determination of glyphosate.

Electrophoretic microfluidic paper-based analytical devices (e-µPADs) are promising for low-cost and portable technologies, but quantitative detection remains challenging. In this study, we develop a paper-based isotachophoretic preconcentration and separation method for the herbicide glyphosate as a model analyte. The device, consisting of two electrode chambers filled with leading and terminating electrolytes and a nitrocellulose strip as the separation carrier, was illuminated by a flat light source and operated with a voltage supply of 400V. Detection was accomplished using a simple camera. Colorimetric detection was optimized through competitive complexation between glyphosate, copper ions, and pyrocatechol violet as a dye. The buffer system was optimized using simulations, (i) ensuring the pH was optimal for the demetallation of the blue pyrocatechol violet-copper complex [PV] to the yellow free dye and (ii) ensuring the electrophoretic migration of glyphosate into the slower [PV] for the colorimetric reaction. A new data evaluation method is presented, analyzing the RGB channel intensities. The linear range was between 0.8 and 25µM, with a LOD of approximately 0.8µM. The ITP separation preconcentrated glyphosate by a factor of 820 in numerical simulations. The method may be applied to control glyphosate formulations, especially in developing countries where herbicide sales and applications are poorly regulated.

Wide heart-shaped mini-LEDs without a second lens as a large area, ultra-high luminance, and flat light source.

In recent years, the demand for outdoor advertising and industrial display applications has been steadily increasing. Outdoor environments require higher brightness levels, thus requiring a reduction in the thermal resistance of the light source package. However, using secondary optical lenses to decrease the number of light sources is not a suitable solution because it may lead to the issue of lens detachment. Therefore, this paper proposes a packaging structure for wide heart-shaped angular light distribution mini-light emitting diodes (WHS mini-LEDs) with a primary optical design to enhance the light-emitting angle. The chips are directly bonded to an aluminum substrate using the metal eutectic process to minimize thermal resistance in the packaging. The experimental results indicated that the WHS mini-LED package had a total thermal resistance of 6.7 K/W. In a 55-inch backlight module (BLM), only 448 WHS mini-LEDs coupled with a quantum dot (QD) film and a brightness enhancement film (BEF) were required. Each lamp board was operated at 20.5 V and 5.5 A. The average luminance of the liquid crystal module (LCM) can reach 2234.2 cd/m2 with a uniformity of 90% and an NTSC value of 119.3%. This design offers a competitive advantage for outdoor advertising displays and industrial displays that require large areas, high brightness, and high color saturation.

Robust Dynamic Indoor Visible Light Positioning Method Based on CMOS Image Sensor

A real-time imaging recognition and positioning method based on visible light communication flat light source is proposed. This method images the visible light communication flat light source through the rolling shutter effect of the complementary metal-oxide semiconductor imaging sensor and obtains the rectangular area outline of the light source. The light and dark stripe information of image with the digital image processing method realizes light source matching recognition by defining the concept, the autocorrelation sequence, which can be used to obtain the identity of the light source, and the rectangular vertex coordinate information of flat light source achieves high-precision vision positioning on the basis of inertial measurement unit attitude sensor-assisted imaging. Simultaneously, the corresponding positioning module is developed for positioning testing. The test results indicate that the plane positioning error is less than 4.5 cm, and the positioning frequency is greater than 10 Hz, which provides a high-precision visual positioning solution for indoor positioning.

Application of Mini-LEDs with Microlens Arrays and Quantum Dot Film as Extra-Thin, Large-Area, and High-Luminance Backlight.

The demand for extra-thin, large-area, and high-luminance flat-panel displays continues to grow, especially for portable displays such as gaming laptops and automotive displays. In this paper, we propose a design that includes a light guide layer with a microstructure above the mini-light-emitting diode light board. The light control microstructure of concave parabel-surface microlens arrays on a light-emitting surface increases the likelihood of total internal reflection occurring and improved the uniformity merit function. We used a 17 in prototype with quantum-dot and optical films to conduct our experiments, which revealed that the thickness of the module was only 1.98 mm. When the input power was 28.34 watts, the uniformity, average luminance, and CIE 1931 color space NTSC of the prototype reached 85%, 17,574 cd/m2, and 105.37%, respectively. This module provided a flat light source that was extra thin and had high luminance and uniformity.

Calibration, sensitivity analysis, and demonstration of a basic polarimeter for artificial satellite observations

The Department of Physics at the United States Air Force Academy has a DFM Engineering f/8.2, 16-inch telescope outfitted with a 9-position filter wheel populated with broadband photometric filters (Johnson-Cousins B, V, R, and a blue-blocking exoplanet filter) and a 100 lines per millimeter diffraction grating. As part of their senior capstone project, physics cadets developed a simple, four-channel linear Stokes polarimeter by populating the open slots in the filter wheel with linear polarization filters oriented at 0°, 45°, 90°, and 135° relative to the vertical axis of the imaging camera. Size and weight restrictions on the back of the telescope prohibited the use of more elaborate polarimeters. They also developed the process and procedures to characterize the effect of the telescope optical elements on the polarization of incident light. Using an unpolarized uniform flat light source, along with a polarized film rotated at 10° increments from 0° to 180°, the intensity of the light source was measured as it passed through the entire optical system including the previously mentioned linear polarized filters. The measured intensities were fitted to Malus Law using a least squares method. From this fit, a modified Mueller matrix was created that describes how the telescope’s optical elements, including the polarizing filters, alter the incident light measured by the telescope’s camera. To relate the measured intensities of light to the Stokes parameters of the light reflected from a satellite, a calibration matrix was computed using a pseudoinverse of the modified Mueller matrix. The sensitivity of the pseudoinverse process was analyzed by perturbing input data and measuring the root mean square (RMS) error between the perturbed and ideal matrices. This process for employing the pseudoinverse introduced minimal error into the system as the RMS error for the calibration matrix was within an acceptable error range. The calibration matrix was applied to observations of three different satellites, AMC-15, DirecTV-10, and DirecTV-14, resulting in their measured Stokes parameters, Degree of Linear Polarization, and Angle of Linear Polarization.

Mini-LEDs with Diffuse Reflection Cavity Arrays and Quantum Dot Film for Thin, Large-Area, High-Luminance Flat Light Source.

Mini-light-emitting diodes (mini-LEDs) were combined with multiple three-dimensional (3D) diffuse reflection cavity arrays (DRCAs) to produce thin, large-area, high-brightness, flat light source modules. The curvature of the 3D free-form DRCA was optimized to control its light path; this increased the distance between light sources and reduced the number of light sources used. Experiments with a 12.3-inch prototype indicated that 216 mini-LEDs were required for a 6 mm optical mixing distance to achieve a thin, large-area surface with high brightness, uniformity, and color saturation of 23,044 cd/m2, 90.13%, and 119.2, respectively. This module can serve as the local dimming backlight in next generation automotive displays.

Derivation and Experimental Verification of the Near-field 2D and 3D Optical Intensities From a Finite-size Light Emitting Diode (LED)

We derive the near-field light intensity distributions of an inorganic LED on its surface and in volumetric space. Our closed-form solution for 3D intensity distribution for a finite-size LED is consistent with Lambert's Cosine Law, which provides the 3D intensity distribution for an infinitesimal, flat light source. We also derive the formula for the 2D intensity distribution on a diode surface showing its similarity to a Gaussian function, which is typically used to approximate the surface light intensity profile for an LED and a laser diode. Our 2D intensity distribution function produces light propagation similar to the Gaussian beam propagation in space. However, unlike the Gaussian approximation, our formula invariably produces this behavior without assuming the refractive index inside the diode follows a quadratic function of the transverse spatial domains. Our 2D and 3D spatial intensity formulas in near-field for LEDs offer a unique way to calculate the peak intensity that occurs at the center of the flat LED source. We demonstrate, as expected, that the peak intensity increases with the size of the LED source as well as the brightness of each radiative electron-hole pair, which is a function of the drive current and quantum efficiency of the LED.

Recent development of flat supercontinuum generation in specialty optical fibers

Supercontinuum (SC) generation has attracted a significant scientific interest in the past decades due to its promising applications covering the fields of metrology, spectroscopy, defense, as well as medical treatments. To date, researchers are devoted to improving the spectral width and flatness of SC generation by using specialty optical fibers. The flatness of the spectrum is of importance because it can improve the accuracy of measurement in practical applications. This paper summarizes the theory of SC, the state of the art of flat SC generation using optical fiber including photonic crystal fibers, soft glass fibers as well as germania-doped fibers, and suggests the future research direction of flat SC light source.

Effect of Adding Electrolyte on Current Efficiency for Light-Emitting Electrochemical Cell Using Ruthenium Complex

Organic light emitting diodes (OLED) have been greatly investigated for application in flat panel display and light source. A different type of OLED is light emitting electrochemical cell (LEC), which consists of luminescent chromophore films with solid electrolyte such as ionic ruthenium complex film. Driving process of LEC is different from that of OLED. That is, upon applied voltage, the electric double layer is formed at the interface between the anode or cathode and ionic luminescent film and hole and electron are injected from both electrodes into the luminescent film and then light is emitted by charge recombination. Thus, LEC has attractive features which are single-layer device and no requirement to use low work function metal as a cathode. However, LEC has some drawback which is ill charge-injection balance between hole and electron caused by the difference in ion size between large ruthenium complex cation and small counter anion. To improve the charge-injection balance, incorporation of small cation into ionic luminescent layer will be expected. In this study, current efficiency for LEC was improved by introduction of lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI) as additive electrolyte into the ruthenium complex film of LEC. LEC was prepared by spin-coating tris(2,2’-bipyridyl) ruthenium(II) complex TFSI2 (Ru(bpy)3(TFSI)2) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) matrix in acetonitrile solution with LiTFSI solid electrolyte on ITO anodes. And then silver was vacuum-deposited onto the resulting ruthenium complex film with solid electrolyte on ITO anodes. The luminescent property of LEC was performed by applying constant current. The standard LEC without LiTFSI was not emitted and the lower voltage than 1 V was observed in the constant current of smaller than 1.5 mA whereas it was emitted and the voltage of around 2.5 V was observed in the constant current of larger than 1.5 mA. These results indicate that the only hole injection occurs and the electron injection does not occur until the applied current over 1.5 mA. It’s due to the thicker electric double layer of ruthenium complex at the cathode of LEC. As introduction of LiTFSI into the ionic luminescent layer, the emission starts at the smaller applied current with increasing amount of LiTFSI. The maximum current efficiency becomes 3.0 cd/A in the LEC containing 3 wt% LiTFSI. However, the addition of more than 3 wt% LiTFSI into LEC makes LEC performance worse because the distance between ruthenium complex become wide and the electron hopping rate becomes slow. Finally, addition of 10 wt% LiTFSI makes crystalize ionic luminescent layer and it does not function as LEC. Therefore, we found that the introduction of 3 wt% LiTFSI to LEC was the optimum condition.

Web‐based experiment for teaching the electrical characteristics of a solar cell and module

AbstractIn this paper, an experiment involving a solar module consisting of serially connected solar cells remotely controlled by a web application is presented. The described experiment is fully automated and is accessed and controlled remotely using a web‐based user interface; a new generation of inexpensive SBC (single‐board computer) devices; flat, light LED sources; and some electronic components. Basically, the experiment consists of a solar module illuminated by a flat LED light source and a programmed electronic variable resistor, which enables collecting the solar module current‐voltage (I–V) characteristics. We found that remote access to lab equipment and experiments has many advantages over traditional scheduled supervised access because it provides a safe virtual environment for work and experimentation using real equipment. Promoting interest in solar cells by introducing students at an early stage of their undergraduate curriculum to the basics (fundamentals) of photovoltaic devices is beneficial in many aspects.

Active Tuning of Spontaneous Emission by Mie-Resonant Dielectric Metasurfaces.

Mie-resonant dielectric metasurfaces offer comprehensive opportunities for the manipulation of light fields with high efficiency. Additionally, various strategies for the dynamic tuning of the optical response of such metasurfaces were demonstrated, making them important candidates for reconfigurable optical devices. However, dynamic control of the light-emission properties of active Mie-resonant dielectric metasurfaces by an external control parameter has not been demonstrated so far. Here, we experimentally demonstrate the dynamic tuning of spontaneous emission from a Mie-resonant dielectric metasurface that is situated on a fluorescent substrate and embedded into a liquid crystal cell. By switching the liquid crystal from the nematic state to the isotropic state via control of the cell temperature, we induce a shift of the spectral position of the metasurface resonances. This results in a change of the local photonic density of states, which, in turn, governs the enhancement of spontaneous emission from the substrate. Specifically, we observe spectral tuning of both the electric and magnetic dipole resonances, resulting in a 2-fold increase of the emission intensity at λ ≈ 900 nm. Our results demonstrate a viable strategy to realize flat tunable light sources based on dielectric metasurfaces.

Oxygen supply by photosynthesis to an implantable islet cell device.

Transplantation of islet cells is an effective treatment for type 1 diabetes with critically labile metabolic control. However, during islet isolation, blood supply is disrupted, and the transport of nutrients/metabolites to and from the islet cells occurs entirely by diffusion. Adequate oxygen supply is essential for function/survival of islet cells and is the limiting factor for graft integrity. Recently, we developed an immunoisolated chamber system for transplantation of human islets without immunosuppression. This system depended on daily oxygen supply. To provide independence from this external source, we incorporated a novel approach based on photosynthetically-generated oxygen. The chamber system was packed sandwich-like with a slab of immobilized photosynthetically active microorganisms (Synechococcus lividus) on top of a flat light source (LEDs, red light at 660 nm, intensity of 8 μE/m(2)/s). Islet cells immobilized in an alginate slab (500-1,000 islet equivalents/cm(2)) were mounted on the photosynthetic slab separated by a gas permeable silicone rubber-Teflon membrane, and the complete module was sealed with a microporous polytetrafluorethylene (Teflon) membrane (pore size: 0.4 μm) to protect the contents from the host immune cells. Upon illumination, oxygen produced by photosynthesis diffused via the silicone Teflon membrane into the islet compartment. Oxygen production from implanted encapsulated microorganisms was stable for 1 month. After implantation of the device into diabetic rats, normoglycemia was achieved for 1 week. Upon retrieval of the device, blood glucose levels returned to the diabetic state. Our results demonstrate that an implanted photosynthetic bioreactor can supply oxygen to transplanted islets and thus maintain islet viability/functionality.

Illumination and scattered light detection using a light source consisting of sub-micrometer defect arrays formed on a extremely flat light waveguide core

We have previously argued that an optical sensor combined total analysis system (TAS) is one of the indispensable functional components needed to realize a "ubiquitous human healthcare" system. To achieve this goal, we have proposed a fundamental structure for illuminating a minute cell or particle running along a microfluidic channel using a flat waveguide construction. It is desirable that the TAS light source should be arranged as close to the specimen flow as possible in order to acquire the necessary optical properties; hence, artificial defects formed on the surface of a flat light waveguide are considered to be a promising candidate for realizing the arbitrary-shaped light source for a highly functional optical TAS structure. Based on this idea, we fabricated a structure, constructing a flat and square light source consisting of rectangular solids, sub-micrometer in size, with a 1-μm thick and a 12-μm wide light waveguide core. We successfully trial-manufactured an optical TAS chip with a fluidic channel containing a 14 × 10-μm cross section, and an extremely flat light waveguide core. We repeatedly confirmed that the defect array could function as an approximately square light source when a 650-nm wavelength laser power was carefully introduced. Furthermore, we developed a hybrid numerical calculation method base on the finite-difference, time-domain method together with the beam propagation method. Utilizing this hybrid method, we evaluated the optical response when a particle runs across the light source while changing the aperture length of a shading mask to obtain signals with both higher intensity and shorter full width at half maximum. The numerical results were compared with experimental results obtained using an image acquisition system, and demonstrated good qualitative accord.

Electro-optical Characteristics of LED Flat Light Source in Low Temperature Condition

Recently, LCD (liquid crystal display) industry is needed to goods of high reliability and wide range temperature condition and it is interested in products for extremely cold condition without failure of light-up. In this experiment, we made the LED backlight unit for Automotive-navigation under the extremely cold condition. And for making this backlight unit, we used to eight side emitting type white LEDs with 3W high power LED. We could know that this backlight unit releases to 18,000 nit in 24W power consumption and start up voltage time is under the 1ms in the ambient temperature at -40.

ディスプレイにおけるフリッカ視認性の視距離および発光デューティ比依存性

New display devices such as liquid-crystal displays, plasma displays, and organic LED displays, and high-definition (HD) TV formats may make a change in flicker visibility on displays. The flicker visibility for various viewing distances and light-emission duty ratios using a 44-inch diagonal flat light source was examined for this paper. As the viewing distance is reduced, the perceptible limit luminance of flicker decreases and the perceptible limit frequency increases. This implies that flicker is more perceptible for HDTV. The results show that a lower light-emission duty ratio, which is used to reduce the motion blur, requires a higher field frequency to prevent flicker. We proposed the empirical equations for the flicker-free field frequency and light-emission duty ratio as functions of the luminance. We found from these equations that more than 75 Hz of field frequency is required to prevent flicker when the duty ratio is 50% and the luminance is 300 cd/m2. In addition, more than an 81% duty ratio is required when the luminance is 300 cd/m2, the viewing distance is 3 H, and the field frequency is 60 Hz.

Vacuum-ultraviolet light emission from xenon directly excited by ballistic output electrons of nanocrystalline silicon planar cathode

The effect of electron incidence into xenon gas molecules has been investigated by using a nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) planar ballistic emitter. Vacuum-ultraviolet light emission is observed without discharging when the nc-Si device is driven in xenon gas. The emission spectrum of xenon at 10kPa shows peaks at 152 and 172nm which originate from Xe2* radiation. These results strongly suggest that energetic electrons directly excite xenon molecules followed by radiative relaxations. The observed effect is potentially applicable to mercury-free, efficient, and stable flat panel light sources.

A low-cost and temperature-insensitive fibre Bragg grating sensor for monitoring localized strain concentrations

A simple, self-diagnostic strain sensor is described, based on a strongly reflective optical fibre Bragg grating illuminated by a broadband source. The total reflected power from these gratings is shown to be a function of the strain gradient experienced by the grating. This is because a change in pitch within a section of the grating results in the emergence of reflected energy in other spectral regions, without any significant reduction in the peak intensity at the Bragg wavelength. Thus, the presence of a localized strain can be inferred directly from an intensity measurement without the need for an optical filter or other more complex interrogation schemes. For spectrally flat light sources, the measurement is relatively insensitive to environmental temperature changes. The sensing mechanism can also be considered ‘self-diagnostic’ as a signal is returned by the grating even under zero load unless the sensor has failed. Modelling results are presented to determine the minimum grating strength required to achieve this effect, while the technique has been experimentally verified by measuring the strain transfer on a loaded scarf repair joint at room and elevated temperatures. The scarf repair was loaded to failure and a reduction in strain transfer was observed as the failure grew along the bondline, in accordance with finite element modelling results.

A high-sag microlens array film with a full fill factor and its application to organic light emitting diodes

This paper reports a novel high-sag microlens array (MLA) film with a full fill factor and presents its application to organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) for the purpose of improving their outcoupling efficiency. A gapless hexagonal MLA film having a high sag ratio is proposed and fabricated by a simple micromachining process including trench formation and the conformal vapor phase deposition of a polymer. By applying the MLA films to OLED panels, the outcoupling efficiency was increased by a maximum of 48% without any apparent color shift. A high-sag MLA film with a full fill factor is expected to impart remarkable optical efficiency to various display or lighting applications with flat panel light sources including OLEDs.

Optical simulation study on the effect of reflecting properties of reflection films on the performances of collimating films for the LCD backlight applications

The dependence of optical performances of collimating films such as prism films and pyramid films on the reflecting properties of reflection films were investigated by using a ray tracing technique. The angular distribution of the luminance and the on‐axis luminance gain were obtained by using a simple backlight model composed of a reflection film, a virtual flat light source, and a collimating film. Three kinds of reflecting properties were used, which were a perfect Lambertian reflector, a perfect mirror reflector, and a reflector having both diffuse and specular properties. It was found that the on‐axis luminance gain was the highest in the simulation where a mirror reflector was used, while the viewing angle was the widest where the Lambertian reflector was used. This result indicates that it is necessary to optimize the simulation condition such as the reflecting properties in order to predict the optical performances of collimating films accurately. Quantitative correlation between the optical characteristics of collimating films and the reflecting properties of reflection films can be used to improve simulation technique for the development and the optimization of collimating films for LCD backlight applications.

Whole column fluorescence imaging on a microchip by using a programmed organic light emitting diode array as a spatial-scanning light source and a single photomultiplier tube as detector

A novel miniaturized, integrated whole-column imaging detection (WCID) system on a microchip is presented. In this system, a program controlled organic light emitting diode (OLED) array was used as a spatial-scanning light source, to achieve imaging by the time sequence of the excited fluorescence. By this mechanism, a photomultiplier tube (PMT) instead of a charge coupled detector (CCD) can be applied to the imaging. Unlike conventional systems, no lenses, fibers or any mechanical components are required either. The novel flat light source provides uniform excitation light without size limitations and outputs a stronger power by pulse driving. The scanning mode greatly reduced the power consumption of the light source, which is valuable for a portable system. Meanwhile, this novel simplified system has a broader linear range, higher sensitivity and higher efficiency in data collection. Isoelectric focusing of R-phycoerythrin (PE) and monitoring of the overall process with WCID were performed on this system. The limit of detection (LOD) was 38 ng mL(-1) or 3.2 pg at 85 nL per column injection of PE. The system provides a technique for WCID capillary isoelectric focusing (cIEF) on chip and can be used for throughput analysis.