Asymmetric Hydrophosphonylation of Imines to Construct Highly Stable Covalent Organic Frameworks with Efficient Intrinsic Proton Conductivity.

Imine-linked covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have received widespread attention because of their structure features such as high crystallinity and tunable pores. However, the intrinsic reversibility of the imine bond leads to the poor stability of imine-linked COFs under strong acid conditions. Also, their thermal stability is significantly lower than that of many other COFs. Herein, we report for the first time that the reversible imine bonds in the skeleton of COFs can be locked through the asymmetric hydrophosphonylation reaction of phosphite. The functionalized COFs not only retain the crystallinity and porous structure but also exhibit evidently improved chemical and thermal stabilities. In addition, the phosphorous acid groups generated by acidic hydrolysis attached to the skeleton endow the COFs with good intrinsic proton conductivity. Due to the diversity of phosphite derivatives and imine-linked COFs, this work may provide an avenue for extending the COF structures and functions through the asymmetric hydrophosphonylation reaction.

Kinetics control over the Schiff base formation reaction for fabrication of hierarchical porous carbon materials with tunable morphology for high-performance supercapacitors.

Schiff base formation reaction is highly dynamic, and the microstructure of Schiff base polymers is greatly affected by reaction kinetics. Herein, a series of Schiff base cross-linked polymers (SPs) with different morphologies are synthesized through adjusting the species and amount of catalysts. Nitrogen/oxygen co-doped hierarchical porous carbon nanoparticles (HPCNs), with tunable morphology, specific surface area (SSA) and porosity, are obtained after one-step carbonization. The optimal sample (HPCN-3) possesses a coral reef-like microstructure, high SSA up to 1003 m2g-1, and a hierarchical porous structure, exhibiting a remarkable specific capacitance of 359.5 F g-1(at 0.5 A g-1), outstanding rate capability and cycle stability in a 1 M H2SO4electrolyte. Additionally, the normalized electric double layer capacitance (EDLC) and faradaic capacitance of HPCN-3 are 0.239 F m-2and 10.24 F g-1respectively, certifying its superior electrochemical performance deriving from coral reef-like structure, high external surface area and efficient utilization of heteroatoms. The semi-solid-state symmetrical supercapacitor based on HPCN-3 delivers a capacitance of 55 F g-1at 0.5 A g-1, good cycle stability of 86.7% after 5000 GCD cycles at 10 A g-1, and the energy density ranges from 7.64 to 4.86 Wh kg-1.

Methods for the performance enhancement and the error characterization of large diameter ground-based diffractive telescopes.

This paper is devoted to the improvement of ground-based telescopes based on diffractive primary lenses, which provide larger aperture and relaxed surface tolerance compared to non-diffractive telescopes. We performed two different studies devised to thoroughly characterize and improve the performance of ground-based diffractive telescopes. On the one hand, we experimentally validated the suitability of the stitching error theory, useful to characterize the error performance of subaperture diffractive telescopes. On the other hand, we proposed a novel ground-based telescope incorporated in a Cassegrain architecture, leading to a telescope with enhanced performance. To test the stitching error theory, a 300 mm diameter, 2000 mm focal length transmissive stitching diffractive telescope, based on a three-belt subaperture primary lens, was designed and implemented. The telescope achieves a 78 cy/mm resolution within 0.15 degree field of view while the working wavelength ranges from 582.8 nm to 682.8 nm without any stitching error. However, the long optical track (35.49 m) introduces air turbulence that reduces the final images contrast in the ground-based test. To enhance this result, a same diameter compacted Cassegrain ground-based diffractive (CGD) telescope with the total track distance of 1.267 m, was implemented within the same wavelength. The ground-based CGD telescope provides higher resolution and better contrast than the transmissive configuration. Star and resolution tests were experimentally performed to compare the CGD and the transmissive configurations, providing the suitability of the proposed ground-based CGD telescope.

Error analysis of large-diameter subaperture stitching Fresnel diffractive elements.

Image quality is dramatically influenced by the stitching errors in a large-diameter stitching Fresnel lens. In this paper, we studied three kinds of errors that can cover all stitching errors in a Cornwell deployed Fresnel lens. In particular, a 300-mm-diameter, three-belt deployed Fresnel diffractive lens was simulated to investigate the stitching error. The star test and the resolution board test experiments were conducted, and the experimental results fit the simulation results. This means that our error analysis theory and simulation method are efficient and accurate and could be used to guide future super-large aperture stitching.

[Analysis and Correction of Spectral Curvature in Hadamard Transform Spectrometer with DMD].

Due to the advantages of its low cost and high utilization rate of light energy and no moving parts, Hadamard transform spectrometer with DMD has become a focus in the research of spectrometer. In order to solve the reduction of spectral resolution caused by the spectral curvature of Hadamard transform spectrometer with DMD (Digital Micro-mirror Device), the spectral aliasing in the spectrometer was investigated. Firstly, the mathematical relationship of spectral aliasing to radius of spectral curvature was deduced. Then, two procedures were proposed to solve the spectral aliasing. One is making the DMD encoded spectral band accordant with the standard spectral band as far as possible by adjusting the DMD-encoded stripe, and another is correcting remaining spectral aliasing by means of data processing. Finally, by analyzing and correcting spectral curvature in six situations of the curvature radius of 15.8 x 104, 7.8 x 104, 9.7 x 104 µm and etc, we fit out the relationship of spectral aliasing and spectrum correction effect of spectral-curvature to the curvature radius. The simulation indicates that the spectral resolution increases to the resolution of optical system. It shows that the proposed methods are universal, simple and effective in the improvement of spectral resolution.

Design of secondary optics for IRED in active night vision systems.

An effective optical design method is proposed to solve the problem of adjustable view angle for infrared illuminator in active night vision systems. A novel total internal reflection (TIR) lens with three segments of the side surface is designed as the secondary optics of infrared emitting diode (IRED). It can provide three modes with different view angles to achieve a complete coverage of the monitored area. As an example, a novel TIR lens is designed for SONY FCB-EX 480CP camera. Optical performance of the novel TIR lens is investigated by both numerical simulation and experiments. The results demonstrate that it can meet the requirements of different irradiation distances quit well with view angles of 7.5°, 22° and 50°. The mean optical efficiency is improved from 62% to 75% and the mean irradiance uniformity is improved from 65% to 85% compared with the traditional structure.

Computation of the diffracted field of a toothed occulter by the semi-infinite rectangle method.

To observe the solar corona, stray light in the coronagraph, arising primarily from an external occulter and diaphragm illuminated directly by the Sun, should be strongly suppressed. A toothed occulter and diaphragm can be used to suppress stray light because they diffract much less light in the central area than a circular disk. This study develops a method of computing the light diffracted by a toothed occulter and diaphragm, obtaining the optimum shape using this method. To prove the method's feasibility, the diffracted fields of circular and rectangular disks are computed and compared with those calculated by a conventional method.

Third-order aberration fields of pupil decentered optical systems.

By introducing a transformed pupil vector into the aberration expansions of an axially symmetric optical system, the aberration coefficients through third order of a pupil decentered off-axis optical system are obtained. Nodal aberration characteristics are revealed only by means of the pupil decentration vector and the aberration coefficients of the axially symmetric system, which shows great convenience since parameters of individual surface such as radius of curvature, decenter as well as the shifted center of the aberration field are not used in the analysis.

Three-Dimensional hybrid structure loader type flexible supercapacitor based on Polyvinyl alcohol gel and Acetylene black.

In order to overcome the structural drawbacks of layered electrodes in flexible supercapacitors, the construction of an electrode frame with high adaptability for the loading of different active materials makes the production of flexible supercapacitors simpler and more accurate. Herein, a novel loader type flexible supercapacitor with three-dimensional hybrid structure is built. In our design, the acetylene black and active material are enriched in the polyvinyl alcohol matrix, and the three-dimensional conductive network that can load different active material is formed. The active material can be selected on demand. The basic electrode (also a loader) formed by polyvinyl alcohol and acetylene black is an electronic conductor (∼1 Scm-1) with good electrochemical and mechanical performance. By loading active materials in this basic electrode, more powerful flexible electrodes can be built easily and accurately with the same steps according to the designed proportion. Electrodes constructed according to this method deliver nonnegligible surface capacity (e.g. 1.1 Fcm-2 in surface capacitance, polyaniline/carbon nanotube composite as active materials) with good response, rate performance, excellent durability (10000 times of charge-discharge), and good foldability (1000 times of folding). This pattern of carrier type electrodes provides a simple and universal strategy for manufacturing flexible supercapacitors.

The Talbot effect of plasmonic nanolenses.

The Talbot effect of an Ag nanolens with five periodic concentric rings that are illuminated by the radially polarized light was numerically studied by means of rigorous finite-difference and time-domain (FDTD) algorithm. It was found that the Talbot effect occurs only when the incident wavelength is at the scale of less than half of period of the grating structures of the nanolenses. Specifically, in this work, the nanolenses with a 500 nm period grating structures has five focal points due to Talbot effect for the incident wavelength of λ = 248 nm. The diameter of the first focal spot after the exit plane in free space is 100 nm. In contrast, we analyzed the corresponding focal points on the basis of Talbot self-imaging by scalar diffraction theory. It was found that the scalar Talbot effect cannot interpret the Talbot effect phenomenon for the metallic nanolenses. It may attribute to the paraxial approximation applied in the Talbot effect theory in far-field region. However, the approximation does not hold in our nanolenses structures during the light propagation. In addition, the Talbot effect appears at the short-wavelength regime only, especially in the ultraviolet wavelength region.

Automated optimization of an aspheric light-emitting diode lens for uniform illumination.

In this paper, an automated optimization method in the sequential mode of ZEMAX is proposed in the design of an aspheric lens with uniform illuminance for an LED source. A feedback modification is introduced in the design for the LED extended source. The user-defined merit function is written out by using ZEMAX programming language macros language and, as an example, optimum parameters of an aspheric lens are obtained via running an optimization. The optical simulation results show that the illumination efficiency and uniformity can reach 83% and 90%, respectively, on a target surface of 40 mm diameter and at 60 mm away for a 1×1 mm LED source.

Design of multiplexed phase diffractive optical elements for focal depth extension.

A more computationally tractable method to design a multiplexed phase diffractive optical element with optical design software to extend the depth of focus is proposed, through which the intensity distribution of the output beams can also be controlled with great flexibility. The design principle is explained in detail. And the feasibility of this design method is illustrated through a design example followed by computer simulation verification.

Fabrication of diffractive optical elements on 3-D curved surfaces by capillary force lithography.

We demonstrate the fabrication of diffractive optical elements (DOEs) on 3-Dimensional curved surfaces by capillary force lithography (CFL). Curved gratings with a period of 20mum and 820nm have been successfully fabricated in polymer on concave surfaces by CFL. The experiment results indicate that the capillary force lithography is an effective method to replicate DOEs on curved surfaces with a very high fidelity and a relatively fast speed. In addition, we found that the growth rate of the polymer in the sub-microfabrication is much faster and the step height is much closer to the master than that in the microfabrication for CFL, which makes CFL more attractive in the fabrication of DOEs with a sub-microscale or even nanoscale feature size than a microscale feature size.

Lithographic fabrication of diffractive optical elements in hybrid sol-gel glass on 3-D curved surfaces.

We demonstrate the lithographic fabrication of diffractive optical elements (DOEs) in hybrid SiO2/TiO2 sol-gel glass on 3-D curved surfaces. The concentric circular gratings with periods of 20 µm, 10 µm and 5 µm have been fabricated in sol-gel glass on concave lens by laser direct writing successfully. Continuous 3-Dimensional surface relief with a height of 435 nm, 110 nm and 50 nm has been obtained for the period of 20 µm, 10 µm and 5 µm respectively. The optical test results of the fabricated DOE shows only a little bit deviation from the theoretical calculated results which can be explained by 3-D curved surface effect. We believe this technology can be an effective method to fabricate DOEs with even more complex surface profile on 3-D curved surfaces in terms of its simplicity and cost-effectiveness.

The characteristics of compound diffractive telescope.

Compound diffractive telescope is a new type of space optical system. It applies the structure of compound eyes into diffractive telescopes. With the help of diffractive optical element, the optical system could become lighter in weight, lower in cost, and looser in sensitivity to manufacturing tolerance. And with the help of compound eyes structure, the field of view is expanded. A demonstrated system of compound diffractive telescope is given. It is composed of one 50mm aperture primary diffractive lens and twenty-one eyepieces. The characteristics of the system are analysed by testing its star image and resolution. It is shown that the whole system can provide about diffraction limit imaging within 4.2 degree field of view.

Modified phase function model for kinoform lenses.

A more computationally tractable model of the kinoform lenses in hybrid refractive-diffractive systems is proposed by taking into consideration the actual phase function of the kinoform lenses for every wavelength. The principle and outline of this modified model are explained. We compare the results of this approach with the more conventional single order calculation and with the standard diffraction-order expansion by using a practical hybrid optical system example.

Design of a novel hologram for full measurement of large and deep convex aspheric surfaces.

We proposed a valid method with a novel computer-generated hologram (CGH) to test large-aperture convex aspheric. The CGH consisted of two zones with different amounts of power: the central zone has a larger amount of power than the marginal zone. Compared with other CGHs used for convex aspheric testing [SPIE.2576.258 (1995)], it could overcome the difficulty of measuring the central region of the convex surface under test, while relaxing the requirement for the illumination optics and CGH of the test system. We have designed an optical test system with the novel CGH to test a 150 mm-diameter convex surface with full aperture by using optical design software Zemax. The simulated result verified the efficiency of the novel CGH. It is believed that this kind of CGHs can be used to measure any large and deep convex surface with full aperture.

Single step fabrication of microlens arrays with hybrid HfO2-SiO2 sol-gel glass on conventional lens surface.

We demonstrate a novel method for fabricating glass microlens (arrays) with single step on conventional lens surface. In this method, the glass microlens can be achieved by only one step with sol gel glass material. The microlens aperture and focus length can be controlled easily and uniformly. The fabricated sample shows good focusing property. This work will be useful to improve the performance of compound eyes optical system such as camera, telescope, 3D integral imaging and so on.

Method for correcting the joint error of a laser writer.

We present what we believe to be a new method for correcting the joint error of a laser writer without reduction of throughput. By digitization, we optimize the intensity data of the incident beam at the vicinity of the start point and the end point. The joint error will not be sensitive to lengthening of the start or end point by optimization. The advantage of this method over multipass writing and error scattering is that it requires only a single pass, and thus 80% of the fabrication time will be saved. Experimentation shows the method to be effective.

Fabrication of large diffractive optical elements in thick film on a concave lens surface.

We demonstrate experimentally the technique of fabricating large diffractive optical elements (DOEs) in thick film on a concave lens surface (mirrors) with precise alignment by using the strategy of double exposure. We adopt the method of double exposure to overcome the difficulty of processing thick photoresist on a large curved substrate. A uniform thick film with arbitrary thickness on a concave lens can be obtained with this technique. We fabricate a large concentric circular grating with a 10-ìm period on a concave lens surface in film with a thickness of 2.0 ìm after development. It is believed that this technique can also be used to fabricate larger DOEs in thicker film on the concave or convex lens surface with precise alignment. There are other potential applications of this technique, such as fabrication of micro-optoelectromechanical systems (MOEMS) or microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and fabrication of microlens arrays on a large concave lens surface or convex lens surface with precise alignment.