2.8 µm passively Q-switched Er:ZBLAN fiber laser with an Sb saturable absorber mirror.

A Q-switched Er:ZBLAN fiber laser operating at 2.8 µm was realized by employing Sb as the saturable material. The Sb material was deposited on a gold mirror by the magnetron-sputtering deposition method to develop a saturable absorber mirror (SAM). By employing the Sb-SAM in an Er:ZBLAN fiber laser, stable Q-switching operation was achieved at central wavelength of 2799.7 nm with the repetition rates ranging from 33.3 to 58.8 kHz and the pulse duration ranging from 5.7 to 1.7 µs. The Sb-SAM still works stably under the maximum pump power of 5.6 W, with an output power of 59 mW corresponding to the pulse energy of 1.03 µJ. To our knowledge, this was the first demonstration of Sb-based saturable material in Er:ZBLAN fiber laser for mid-infrared Q-switched pulse generation operating in the 2.8 µm regime, indicating its potential applications in the mid-infrared waveband.

High-energy square-wave pulses generated in a 1/1.5-µm dual-band mode-locked fiber laser.

The generation of square-wave pulses in a 1/1.5-µm dual-band mode-locked fiber laser is experimentally demonstrated. The laser is based upon a peculiar "figure-θ" architecture that exploits a single active fiber to realize dual-band operation. High-energy square-wave pulses are simultaneously generated in both the 1-µm and the 1.5-µm spectral band using the laser. The 1-µm pulse maintains wave-breaking-free operation during the increase of the pump power and finally achieves energy as high as 88.6 nJ, while the 1.5-µm pulse achieves energy up to 1.5 µJ before it ultimately collapses into second-order mode locking. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the formation of square-wave pulses in dual-band mode-locked fiber lasers.

Highly Stretchable and Robust Electrochemical Sensor Based on 3D Graphene Oxide-CNT Composite for Detecting Ammonium in Sweat.

Wearable electrochemical sensors have attracted tremendous attention and have been experiencing rapid growth in recent years. Sweat, one of the most suitable biological fluids for non-invasive monitoring, contains various chemical elements relating abundant information about human health conditions. In this work, a new type of non-invasive and highly stretchable potentiometric sweat sensor was developed based on all-solid-state ion-selective electrode (ISE) coupled with poly(dimethylsiloxane; PDMS) and polyurethane (PU). This highly stretchable composite of PDMS-PU allows the sensor to be robust, with the PDMS providing a flexible backbone and the PU enhancing the adhesion between the electrodes and the substrate. In addition, graphene-carbon nanotube (CNT) network 3D nanomaterials were introduced to modify the ion selective membrane (ISM) in order to increase the charge transfer activity of the ISEs, which also could minimize the formation of water layers on the electrode surface, as such nanomaterials are highly hydrophobic. As a result, the sensor demonstrated a wide detection range of NH4+ from 10-6 M to 10-1 M with high stability and sensitivity-showing a high sensitivity of 59.6 ± 1.5 mV/log [NH4+] and an LOD lower than 10-6 M. Under a strain of 40%, the sensor still showed a sensitivity of 42.7 ± 3.1 mV/log [NH4+]. The proposed highly stretchable and robust electrochemical sweat sensor provides a new choice for wearable-device-based personal daily healthcare management beyond hospital-centric healthcare monitoring.

A Dynamic Analysis of the Asymmetric Effects of the Vocational Education and Training on Economic Growth, Evidence From China.

Since 2010, China's economic growth has stagnated due to an unbalanced regional industrial structure and lack of sufficient qualified technical personnel. A nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model has been used in this study to examine the asymmetric effects of secondary vocational education and training (SVET) and higher vocational education and training (HVET) and their interaction with high-tech industries on economic growth over the period 1980-2020. The findings show that an increase in secondary vocational education and training (SVET) significantly boosts long-term economic growth, while a decrease in secondary vocational education and training (SVET) insignificantly reduces long-term China economic growth. Likewise, the upward change in higher vocational education and training (HVET) promotes and the downward fluctuation in higher vocational education and training (HVET) significantly reduces China's long-term economic growth. The moderating role of secondary vocational education in the impact of high-tech industries on China's economic growth is positive, but not significant. However, higher vocational education plays a significant positive moderating role in high technology industries impact on economic growth. Strategically, the study analysis suggests that economic transition prosperity can be achieved by encouraging higher vocational education and the equal development of high-tech industries in all regions. In addition, this study also proposes to cultivate high-quality talents related to high-tech development and modern industrial innovation and upgrading through higher vocational education, improve productivity, and promote the country's intensive development.