Rapid Cellulose-Mediated Microwave Sintering for High-Conductivity Ag Patterns on Paper.

Cellulose-based paper is essential in everyday life, but it also has further potentials for use in low-cost, printable, disposable, and eco-friendly electronics. Here, a method is developed for the cellulose-mediated microwave sintering of Ag patterns on conventional paper, in which the paper plays a significant role both as a flexible insulating substrate for the conductive Ag pattern and as a lossy dielectric media for rapid microwave heating. The anisotropic dielectric properties of the cellulose fibers mean that a microwave electric field applied parallel to the paper substrate provides sufficient heating to produce Ag patterns with a conductivity 29-38% that of bulk Ag in a short period of time (∼1 s) at 250-300 °C.

Fast scanning of a pulsed terahertz signal using an oscillating optical delay line.

We describe a fast measurement of a pulsed terahertz signal generated by a femtosecond laser and a photoconductive antenna using an oscillating optical delay line. The method to measure the amplitude of the retroreflector in the oscillating optical delay line is proposed and the displacement of the retroreflector is exactly calculated to acquire the optical delay time in the fast scan mode. With the different oscillation frequency and amplitude of the retroreflector, the pulsed terahertz signals are measured and analyzed.