Uniformity Length Research Articles

Effect of Corona Discharge Plasma Radiation on the Viability of True Shallot Seeds (Allium cepa L. var. aggregatum)

TSS (True Shallot Seed) need to be developed to address the quality and quality of shallot seeds. The seeds, however, still has constraints on its viability and germination. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of corona discharge plasma radiation on the viability of true shallot seeds. The research was conducted in March - April 2023 at the Plasma Laboratory, Faculty of Science and Mathematics, Diponegoro University, and the germination test experiments at the the Agricultural Technology Research and Assessment Installation (IP2TP Ungaran). The experiment was designed completely randomized with 6 treatments of radiation time consisting of P0 (without radiation), P1 (5 min), P2 (10 min), P3 (15 min), P4 (20 min), and P5 (25 min). All treatments were carried out with 5 replications. The collected data were processed using ANOVA and then continued with the DMRT test. The results showed that the corona plasma radiation treatment for 15-25 min affected the parameters of germination, germination rate, seed growth rate, vigor index, seed uniformity, and sprout length. Keywords: Plasm, Radiation, Shallots, TSS.

Foliar application of silicon and boron improves boll retention, lint yield and fiber quality traits of transgenic cotton

BackgroundCotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) is an important fiber crop that has a widespread cultivation in tropical and subtropical regions globally. The decline in cotton production over the last two decades may be attributed to the effects of climate change and imbalances in mineral nutrition. However, mineral nutrition, particularly micronutrients has been less focused in cotton production. Silicon (Si) and boron (B) are considered crucial micronutrients that play diverse functions in the physiological and biochemical development of plants, as well as in enhancing their resistance to abiotic stress. MethodsThe present study investigated the impact of individual and combined foliar application of Si and B on the development of transgenic (Bt) cotton, as well as their impacts on boll retention, seed cotton production, and fiber quality indicators. Treatments included individual application of 2.0- and 4.0-mM Si and 0.5- and 1.0-mM B, and combined application 2.0 mM Si + 0.5 mM B, 2.0 mM Si + 1.0 mM B, 4 mM Si + 0.5 mM B and 4.0 mM Si + 1.0 mM B. Water spray and no foliar application were regarded as controls for comparison. ResultsCombined application of 4 mM Si + 1.0 mM B resulted in the highest ginning out turn (39%), fiber uniformity (83%) and fiber length (28 mm). The longest plant height and the highest number of closed bolls per plant were recorded with sole application of 0.5 mM B, while sole application of 1 mM B produced the highest number of monopodial branches (20.26), sympodial branches (33.53) and total number of bolls (37.03) per plant. The highest boll weight (18.39 g), boll retention (64.38%) and seed cotton yield (1253.7 kg ha−1) were recorded for sole application of 1.0 mM B. ConclusionThe results revealed that combined foliar application of 4.0 mM Si + 0.5 or 1.0 0.5 mM fiber quality traits, whereas sole application of 1.0 mM B improved growth and yield related traits. Therefore, B and Si can be applied in combination to improve the fiber quality, whereas sole application of B could increase yield-related traits.

Optimal dietary L-glutamine level improves growth performance and intestinal histomorphometry of juvenile giant trahira (Hoplias lacerdae), a Neotropical carnivorous fish species

Even though glutamine is a non-essential amino acid, its inclusion in diets can be used as a tool to optimize the intestinal health and growth of fish, reason why it has been considered as a functional amino acid. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the dietary supplementation with different levels of L-glutamine for juvenile giant trahira (Hoplias lacerdae), a Neotropical carnivorous fish species. For this purpose, a completely randomized design with six treatments (diets supplemented with 0.0; 2.0; 4.0; 6.0; 8.0 or 10.0 g/kg of L-glutamine) and five replicates was used. Five hundred ten juveniles of giant trahira (1.69 ± 0.10 g and 4.67 ± 0.10 cm) were divided into 30 circulars tanks (20 L) arranged in a water recirculating system. After 12 weeks of feeding, fish growth performance parameters (survival rate, weight and length gain, feed conversion, specific growth rate, protein efficiency ratio, length, final weight uniformity, carcass yield and intestine length), somatic indices (viscerossomatic, hepatosomatic and intestinesomatic), whole-body chemical composition and intestinal histomorphometry were evaluated. According to the polynomial regression applied, there was a quadratic effect (p < 0.05) of L-glutamine levels on fish weight gain, length gain and length uniformity. The L-glutamine levels that yielded the highest values for these parameters were estimated at 4.83 g/kg, 4.92 g/kg, 4.97 g/kg, respectively. Whole-body chemical composition was not affected by the L-glutamine supplementation. The villi height in the median portion and the muscular tunic thickness in the median and posterior portion of the intestine also exhibited a quadratic trend (p < 0.05). Furthermore, 5.42 g/kg, 5.16 g/kg and 5.21 g/kg, are the respective L-glutamine levels that maximized these metrics. It has been concluded that dietary supplementation with L-glutamine can improve growth performance and intestinal histomorphometry of juvenile giant trahira and at the same time, the optimal level in the diet is between 4.83 and 5.42 g/kg.

Design of Heating Coils Based on Space-Filling Fractal Curves for Highly Uniform Temperature Distribution

Heating coils utilize the concept of resistive heating to convert electrical energy into thermal energy. Uniform heating of the target area is the key performance indicator for heating coil design. Highly uniform distribution of temperature can be achieved by using a dense metal distribution in the area under consideration, however, this increases the cost of production significantly. A low-cost and efficient heating coil should have excellent temperature uniformity while having minimum metal consumption. In this work, space-filling fractal curves, such as Peano curve, Hilbert curve and Moore curve of various orders, have been studied as geometries for heating coils. In order to compare them in an effective way, the area of the geometries has been held constant at 30 mm × 30 mm and a constant power of 2 W has been maintained across all the geometries. Further, the thickness of the metal coils and their widths have been kept constant for all geometries. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) results show Hilbert and Moore curves of order-4, and Peano curve of order-3 outperform the typical double-spiral heater in terms of temperature uniformity and metal coil length.

Use of objective imaging systems to assess subjective grain appearance traits important to the US rice industry

AbstractBackground and objectivesMilled rice grain appearance traits, including chalk, determine its grade, price, and marketability. These appearance traits are evaluated visually (VI) in the United States by officially trained inspectors and at commercial mills. Digital imaging systems (IS) provide an alternative means to objectively and rapidly measure these traits. The goals of this study were to compare chalk values determined by VI and IS and to identify IS parameters that are associated with the five grain appearance traits commonly assessed by the US rice industry.FindingsMilled rice chalk determined by three VI methods used by commercial mills, a rice export company, and government inspectors, and three IS, WinSeedle, SeedCount, and S21, differed significantly. However, all six methods agreed on ranking of the best and worst of 20 US cultivars for chalkiness. Multiple linear regression analyses identified quality parameters from each IS that are associated with—bran streaks, chalk, kernel color, uniformity length, and appearance overall as determined by commercial mills.ConclusionsIS can rapidly quantify rice grain appearance traits but agree with subjective ratings for chalkiness only when differences are extreme. Subjective grain appearance traits as determined by commercial mills appear to be based on several parameters detected by IS.Significance and noveltyIS demonstrated that discolored kernels and grain chalkiness are the major factors explaining differences in overall appearance of US long‐grain varieties as subjectively assessed by commercial mills.

Artificial neural network interpolation for magnetic field mapping in an air-core HTS quadruple magnet

An air-core high-temperature superconducting (HTS) quadruple magnet is currently being designed and fabricated at the Applied Superconductivity Laboratory, Yonsei University, in collaboration with Uiduk University. It is composed of eight double-pancake racetrack coils, each wound with 4-mm REBCO tapes manufactured by SuNAM Co., Inc. The Metal-as-Insulation technique will be used to reduce no-insulation charging delays. The gradient, uniformity and effective length of the initially-designed air-core quadruple magnet are 3.1 Tm−1, below 0.5%, and 209.0 mm, respectively. However, the magnet to be fabricated will be different from the designed magnet owing to manufacturing uncertainties. Therefore, magnetic field measurements must be performed in the volume of interest of the magnet. As it is impossible to measure the magnetic field at all points, it is crucial to obtain a mapping algorithm that can calculate the magnetic field in the volume of interest based on the measured field at several points. Herein, a mapping method using the discrete Fourier transform and artificial neural network interpolation was presented. To verify the mapping method, a mapping simulation of the designed magnet was performed and analyzed.

Analysis of magnetic field harmonics change due to manufacturing error in air-core HTS quadruple magnet

An high temperature superconducting (HTS) quadruple magnet used to focus and defocus beams in particle accelerator has been studied for overcoming the disadvantages of low temperature superconducting (LTS) quadruple magnet. LTS quadruple magnet is hard to withstand radiation and heat load at hot cell because of small thermal margin of LTS, and has a nonlinear magnetic characteristic due to iron-core. The thermal margin is improved by changing the LTS to HTS. The magnetic field components are linear according to the operation current by removing the iron-core. Therefore, the air-core HTS quadruple magnet was designed in the past research. Field qualities that determine the performance of the quadruple magnet are composed of field gradient, field uniformity and effective length, and those of air-core HTS quadruple magnet can be achieved using harmonic matching (HM) method. However, when the quadruple magnet is fabricated, parameters of the fabricated magnet are different from designed parameters due to the manufacturing errors. This manufacturing error, REBCO conductor’s dimensional variation of thickness and width, and human errors during winding and assembling, could crucially influence to the field qualities of the quadruple magnet. In this paper, we present a draft design of air-core HTS quadruple magnet and describes an analytical method to predict change of field gradient, uniformity and effective length caused by manufacturing errors and (3) an evaluation of the permissible manufacturing error for an air-core HTS quadruple magnet.

Extension and investigation by numerical simulations of algorithm for calibration-free laser induced breakdown spectroscopy

Accuracy of calibration-free (CF) methods in laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) depends on experimental conditions and instrumental parameters that must match a CF LIBS model. Here, the numerical study is performed to investigate effects of various factors, such as the optical density, plasma uniformity, line overlap, noise, spectral resolution, electron density and path length on the results of CF-LIBS analyses. The effects are examined one-by-one using synthetic spectra of steel slag samples that fully comply with the mathematical model of the method. Also, the algorithm includes several new features in comparison with previously proposed CF algorithms. In particular, it removes limits on the optical thickness of spectral lines that are used for the construction of the Saha-Boltzmann plot; it retrieves the absorption path length (plasma diameter) directly from spectral lines; it uses the more realistic Voigt line profile function instead of the Lorentzian function; and it employs the pre-calculated and tabulated thin-to-thick line ratios instead of approximating functions for self-absorption correction.

Comparative Study of Magnetic Characteristics of Air-Core and Iron-Core High-Temperature Superconducting Quadrupole Magnets

High-temperature superconductors (HTSs) have a much larger thermal margin than low-temperature superconductors, owing to their high critical temperatures. This characteristic allows HTS magnets to tolerate extremely high heat loads that may arise from radiation. Therefore, research on the development of HTS quadrupole magnets is progressing widely. Quadrupole magnets are commonly used for focusing the transported beams of particles in accelerators. In order to focus the beam, the quadrupole magnet uses an iron yoke with a hyperbolic contour. However, the iron yoke induces nonlinear magnetic characteristics because of saturation. Therefore, an air-core HTS quadrupole magnet is proposed to improve the magnetic characteristics. In this paper, we design air-core and iron-core HTS quadrupole magnet models using a harmonic matching method. The field gradient and effective length of both magnets are 12.1 T/m and 550 mm, respectively. In order to verify the performances of the proposed air-core quadrupole magnet, the magnetic field gradient, field uniformity, and effective length are analyzed for operating currents ranging from 50 to 400 A.

Seed Cotton and Lint Moisture Addition at a Western Cotton Gin

Abstract. Testing was conducted at a western commercial cotton gin to evaluate the effect of humid air moisture addition on fiber quality, bale value, and operating costs; when applied at the gin stand feeder conditioning hopper and battery condenser lint slide. Two tests each with 19 conventional modules of upland cotton were conducted over two consecutive days. The moisture treatments included feeder hopper moisture on or off and lint slide moisture on or off, resulting in four treatment combinations: 1) no moisture added (No Addition), 2) moisture added at the feeder hopper only (Hopper Only), 3) moisture added at the lint slide only (Slide Only), and 4) moisture added at the both the feeder hopper and lint slide moisture (Hopper+Slide). Results showed that seed cotton moisture content at the gin stand was about 0.1 percentage points higher when moisture was added at the feeder hopper and lint moisture content in the bale was about 0.9 percentage points higher when moisture was added at the lint slide. Adding moisture at the feeder hopper resulted in small, but significant (p-value = 0.05), improvements in HVI length [+0.21 mm (0.008 in.)], uniformity (+0.16 percentage points), and strength (+0.25 g/tex), and AFIS length [+0.4 mm (0.016 in.)] and short fiber content (-0.52 percentage points). However, fiber yellowness also increased (+0.12 +b) when moisture was added at the feeder hopper. Adding moisture at the lint slide had very little effect on fiber quality. Moisture addition at either location did not significantly affect spinning performance or yarn quality. Lint produced with moisture added only at the feeder hopper had the highest average value [$1.254/kg (56.88 ¢/lb)] and lint with moisture added only at the lint slide had the lowest value [$1.234/kg (55.98 ¢/lb)]. Bales produced with added moisture were heavier, 9 kg (20 lb) heavier on average for the Hopper+Slide moisture addition than for No Addition. Bales produced using moisture addition not only contained more moisture, but also more lint. This could be due to easier bale pressing, which was supported by measurements which showed that about 2 kW less press power was required to press bales with moisture added at the lint slide. Moisture added at the feeder hopper resulted in the greatest overall increase in value over the value of cotton ginned with no moisture addition, more than $32,000 when extrapolated over 10,000 bales. The moisture addition treatments required more energy to produce bales, mainly due to the additional natural gas required for air humidifying equipment. However, since bales with added moisture contained more dry lint resulting in fewer bales pressed for the same amount of dry lint in bales produced with no moisture addition, savings in bale packaging materials and labor costs made operating the moisture systems slightly less expensive than not, up to about $1400 less for 10,000 bales with the Hopper+Slide moisture addition. Although the results showed little impact on cotton quality by adding moisture, the subtle differences and heavier bales containing more lint could have a significant effect on the value to a producer over an entire cotton crop or to a gin over an entire season. Keywords: Cost benefit analysis, Cotton ginning, Energy, Fiber quality, Humid air, Moisture addition.

Development of the CSNS Lambertson magnet with very low stray field

In this paper, the magnetic and mechanical design of Lambertson are studied, and then magnetic field measurements are introduced. The results show that the integral field uniformity and effective length meet the physical requirements. The shielding measures shield the stray field effectively and the stray field along the circulating beam orbit is at a very low level.

Porous carbon materials with dual N, S-doping and uniform ultra-microporosity for high performance supercapacitors

Ultra-microporosity and heteroatom-doping have been proved to be desired for carbon electrode materials of advanced supercapacitors. In this paper, dual N, S-doped carbon materials with high-developed ultra-micopores (∼0.70nm) are prepared by direct carbonization of potassium salts of m-amionphenol-m-mecaptophenol co-resin. The morphology, structure and surface properties of the carbon materials are investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), N2 adsorption, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). It was found that the reactant ratio of phenols play an important role on the microscopy morphology, pore texture and heteroatom-doping of carbon materials. The potassium ions mono-dispersed in phenolic resins as a form of O−K+ deliver a homogenous “in-situ self-activation”, thus created developed ultra-microporosity with high uniformity, connectivity and short pore length. Due to the synergy effect of tailored ultra-microporosity and N, S, O-doping, the SNC-3:1-600 carbon shows a high specific capacitance of 250Fg−1, good capacitance retention of 61% in the range of 0.2–20Ag−1, low relaxation time constant of 0.71s in KOH electrolyte. The present preparation strategy is attractive and inspiring for preparation of tunable N, S-doped carbon materials for advanced supercapacitors.

Germinação de arroz irrigado e de biótipos de arroz-vermelho submetidas a diferentes temperaturas

Red rice is the main weed of the irrigated rice crop because it affects productivity and quality. The object of this study was to evaluate the effect of different temperatures on the germination dynamics of the Puita INTA CL rice genotype, and on red-rice biotypes, both with and without breaking dormancy. The study was carried out in 2011 in a BOD chamber and phytotron of the Federal University of Santa Maria in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The experimental design was completely randomised, with four replications. Factor (A) consisted of the temperatures 13, 17, 21 and 25 oC, and factor (D) of the Puita INTA CL cultivar and three biotypes, both with and without dormancy. The following parameters were evaluated: seed germination (SG), emergence speed index (ESI), emergence uniformity coefficient (EUC) and length of aerial part (LAP). There was an increase in SG, ESI, EUC and LPA in the red-rice biotypes with the increase in temperature of 13 oC to 25 oC. At temperatures of 13 and 17 oC the genotype showed 64% greater germination than the average of the biotypes without breaking dormancy, whereas at 21 and 25 oC it was only 11%. The biotypes presented 56% greater germination at temperatures of 21 to 25 oC compared to 13 and 17 oC. Temperatures of 13 and 17 oC cause less germination of red rice without breaking dormancy. As a strategy for controlling red rice in areas of irrigated rice, giving priority to sowing of the rice earlier in the recommended period (September and beginning of October) is suggested, when the temperatures of the air and of the soil are lower.

Absorption tomography of laser induced plasmas

An emission tomography of laser-induced plasmas employed in the laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) requires signal integration times in a microsecond range during which the LIBS plasma cannot be considered stationary. Consequently, the use of the data for reconstructing the plasma properties under the assumption that the latter does not change significantly during the integration time leads to inaccurate results. To reduce the integration time, it is proposed to measure a plasma absorption in parallel rays using a scanning rectangular aperture whose dimension Δ along the scanning direction is about a characteristic size of plasma plumes (Δ∼1cm) and the other dimension Δp is of the order of a uniformity length of plasma parameters (Δp∼10μm). The aperture is moved step by step along the scanning direction and the total energy of photons coming through the aperture is measured during time T at each position of the aperture. Owing to the large size of the aperture, the integration time T is reduced by a factor ∼Δp/Δ. A numerical data processing is proposed to restore the spatial resolution of the plasma absorption along the scanning direction. It is determined by the scanning step Δs≤Δp. Another advantage of the proposed procedure is that inexpensive linear CCD or non-discrete (PMT, photodiode) detectors can be used instead of costly 2-dimensional detectors.

Design of drip irrigation lateral for optimum capital and operating cost

The drip irrigation system cost can be reduced effectively by using optimal design methods and decreasing the system pressure. In this paper, a two-stage optimum drip irrigation lateral design model is developed based on a new uniformity formula that includes hydraulic variation, emitter manufacture’s variation, and field roughness variation. The non-linear objective function minimizes the capital cost and the present values of the lateral operating cost. In the first stage, the pipe diameter and the emitter average pressure are taken as decision variables for the specified uniformity and lateral length. In the second stage, a commercially available pipe size that is very close to the diameter obtained in the first stage is selected. It has an allowable pressure that is a little more than or equal to 1.5 times of the maximum lateral pressure obtained in the first stage. The emitter average pressure is calculated for a known diameter. The model is applied to a case study in which the result indicates that a lateral with a larger diameter and the lower emitter average pressure can be economically justifiable. A drip irrigation system with a lower pressure should be developed on the basis of this study.

Round bale alfalfa processing method does not influence feeding or mixing characteristics in a total mixed ration

Introduction Nutritionists and producers often assume that ingredients in a total mixed ration are uniformly mixed. However, many factors may affect ration homogeneity, including particle size, shape, and density and mixer discharge location. Forages are often ground prior to mixing in a total mixed ration to reduce variation in forage particle length. However, preprocessing forages while baling may facilitate particle length reduction and eliminate the need to grind forages prior to mixing. Objectives of this study were to determine the effects of forage processing method on uniformity and particle length of the total mixed ration at different discharge locations throughout mixing.

Genetic parameters for wool traits in Finnsheep lambs

Genetic parameters were estimated for wool characteristics of white and coloured Finnsheep. The data consisted of 5 309 lambs from ordinary production flocks, the Finnsheep nucleus flock and a breeding flock. The variance component estimation was done applying REML analyses. Wool traits included fleece uniformity, density, staple formation, lustre, crimp frequency, fineness grade and staple length. There was a smaller dataset that contained also lamb live weight, greasy fleece weight and additional fleece characteristics including fibre diameter measured with the OFDA method. The variance components for direct and maternal effects were estimated using bivariate analysis for 42-day, 120-day weight and greasy fleece weight. Heritability for visually assessed wool characteristics varied from 0.23 to 0.43 and for measured traits from 0.45 to 0.62. Staple length had a high negative genetic correlation with crimp frequency and fineness grade. Heritability of greasy fleece weight was high (0.55) and that of fibre diameter 0.62. The genetic correlation between crimp frequency and fibre diameter was negative (- 0.56). The results imply that the assessed traits are useful indicators for fleece quality and those of major importance can be introduced into the breeding programme. The results suggest that there is no antagonism in selection for both growth capacity and wool quantity.;

Influence of &lt;I&gt;Nezara viridula&lt;/I&gt; Feeding on Cotton Yield, Fiber Quality, and Seed Germination

The influence of southern green stink bug, Nezara viridula (L.), adults (males and females) and fourth to fifth instars on cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., boll abscission, seedcotton yield, fiber quality, and seed viability was evaluated in field studies conducted during 2004 and 2005. Cotton bolls representing several age classes ranging from 0-600 heat units were individually infested with a specific gender or life stage of southern green stink bug. Adults and nymphs induced abscission of bolls that accumulated 0-280 heat units after anthesis. Seedcotton yield was significantly lower in bolls infested with adults (males and females) and late instars through approximately 500 heat units after anthesis. Southern green stink bug feeding on bolls significantly affected the physical fiber properties of micronaire (measure of fiber fineness or maturity), strength, uniformity, and fiber length. Discolored cotton lint in the stink bug-infested bolls was more common than in noninfested bolls. Seed germination and development of normal seedlings for seed harvested from stink bug-infested bolls that accumulated < or =500 heat units beyond anthesis were significantly lower compared with noninfested bolls. No significant differences in boll abscission, yield, fiber quality, and seed germination were detected between southern green stink bug males and females or between adults and fourth to fifth instars.

Modos de aplicação de regulador de crescimento com diferentes densidades de plantas em cultivares de algodão herbáceo (Gossypium hirsutum L. var. latifolium Hutch.)

The cotton crop management for plant population, cultivars and growth regulator application system to adequate the plant architecture are technical aspects of relevant importance. The present work was developed at the experimental station of the São Paulo State University/Ilha Solteira Campus, State of São Paulo, Brazil, in a Dark red latosol. The experimental design was the randomized completely blocks with twelve treatments and four replications, arranged in a factorial scheme 2x3x2, aiming to study: cotton cultivars (IAC 23 and CNPA ITA 90), plant density (6, 10 and 14 plants m-1); application systems of growth regulator (mepiquat chloride) with single application at 72 days after emergence (DAE) (1,0L ha-1) and in four times (0,1; 0,2; 0,3 and 0,4L ha-1), at 28, 43, 57 e 72 DAE. It was concluded that the application systems of the growth regulator do not affect the yield. The cotton plants with parceled application of growth regulator showed lower values of stem diameter and height when compared with single application. The IAC 23 presents stem diameter higher than the CNPA ITA 90. The CNPA ITA 90 presents fiber percentage higher than the IAC 23. The effect of growth regulator application system under the plant height depends of the plant population and the cultivar. The CNPA ITA 90 presents higher averages of fiber length, uniformity and tenacity. The parceled system of growth regulator application presets the higher values of uniformity and fiber length

Spatially resolved characterization of HgCdTe materials and devices by scanning laser microscopy

Spatially resolved characterization of HgCdTe materials and p-n junction diodes using scanning laser microscopy is reviewed. Several techniques that yield spatial maps of electrical inhomogeneities in HgCdTe material and non-uniformities in various performance parameters of p-n junctions fabricated using these materials have been developed. Many of the techniques are non-destructive, or can be made such with minor changes in sample preparation, and are scalable to large full wafers. A high-resolution and non-destructive technique called 'laser beam induced current (LBIC)' has been developed for spatial mapping of electrically active regions in HgCdTe. When applied to unprocessed HgCdTe material, LBIC images represent spatial distributions of electrically active defects including inclusions, strain, damage, precipitates, stacking faults, twin boundaries, dislocation clusters, bandgap and doping variations. Device structures such as p-n junctions are special cases of electrically active regions, therefore the LBIC technique lends itself to a non-destructive study of p-n junction arrays without requiring any direct electrical contact to the individual elements of the array. The remote contacting, especially using pressure contacts, makes the application of the LBIC technique non-destructive, allowing testing at various stages of device processing to identify particular processing procedures that need optimization. LBIC has also been used to spatially map electrical non-uniformities at the HgCdTe surface near its interface with an insulating passivation layer. Besides LBIC imaging, scanning laser microscopy has been used for several other applications. For HgCdTe p-n junctions, applications include photoresponse mapping (uniformity, active area and diffusion length determination, contact bonding effects), spatially resolved light-induced degradation, and avalanche photodiode properties (ionization coefficients, localized breakdown). A key technique currently in development is the non-contact diode R0A determination based on trapping mode photoconductivity. Examples of scanning laser microscopy on HgCdTe materials are infrared transmission mapping (thickness and bandgap variations), photoluminescence mapping, and minority carrier lifetime mapping (distribution of recombination centres).