Dynamics of single-layer polymer breath figures.

A single-layer of breath figure pattern was explored via the dynamical optical images and the temperature evolution. The pattern was prepared with the solution of carbon disulfide (CS(2)) dissolved 1% weight concentration of polystyrene. The evaporation of CS(2) was considered to be the most important role to the formation of the breath figure pattern.

Detecting weak phase locking in chaotic system with dual attractors and ill-defined phase structure.

A quantitative approach was constructed for detecting phase locking in a chaotic system with complex attractor structure via stroboscopic method. We study the route to weak phase locking by analyzing the stroboscopic points. The onset of weak phase locking detected by using this statistical approach and the critical coupling strength calculated by Lyapunov exponent are matched well.

Sensitive voltage-dependent diffraction of a liquid crystal Fresnel lens.

This investigation proposes a Fresnel liquid crystal (LC) lens with high diffraction efficiency and a low driving voltage. A Fresnel zone electrode was fabricated on a glass plate. A Fresnel zone-distributed electric field in the LC cell was induced by a proper driving voltage, yielding a concentric structure of LCs as a Fresnel phase lens.

Laser beam propagation in nematic liquid crystals at the temperature close to the nematicisotropic critical point.

This study investigates the optical nonlinearity of beam propagation in homogeneously aligned nematic liquid crystal (NLC) cells at a temperature close to the nematic-isotropic temperature (TNI). The undulate propagation mode with convergent and divergent loops appearing alternately is reported and the thermally enhanced optical reorientation nonlinearity at the focus is described. The optically induced phase transition exists along the pump beam direction.

Distinguishing a driver from a response system.

This study presents an approach for distinguishing a driver from a response system. The proposed method can be applied to both unidirectional or bidirectional interactions, and to identical or structurally different systems. Compared with most previously proposed schemes, the present method is so "simple" that the driver-response relationships can generally be detected using a direct graphic way.

Simple parameter determination for twisted nematic liquid-crystal display.

A simple and accurate measurement method for determining the cell parameters of a twisted nematic liquid-crystal display (TN-LCD) is proposed. Based on the measurement of the maximum reflectance and the maximum transmittance of a TN-LCD by rotating the polarizer at a particular angle, between the front director of the liquid crystals and the transmission axis of the polarizer, the cell gap and the twist angle can be determined according to the Jones matrix theory, and the twist sense can also be determined easily by applying an external small voltage to slightly change the effective refractive index of the liquid crystal.

Experimental Observations of Dual-Polarization Oscillations in Laser-Diode-Pumped Wide-Aperture Thin-Slice Nd:GdVO(4) Lasers.

Dual-polarization oscillations (DPO) on different transitions have been observed for the first time in a mirror-coated thin-slice Nd:GdVO(4) laser possessing a large fluorescence anisotropy with laser-diode (LD) pumping. Oscillation spectra, input-output characteristics, pump-dependent pattern formations and noise power spectra are studied experimentally. Simultaneous oscillations of orthogonally-polarized different (higher-order) transverse modes and the resultant violation of inherent antiphase dynamics in multimode lasers have been demonstrated.

Effects of bulk dissipation on the critical exponents of a sandpile.

Bulk dissipation of a sandpile on a square lattice with the periodic boundary condition is investigated through a dissipating probability f during each toppling process. We find that the power-law behavior is broken for f>10(-1) and not evident for 10(-1)}>f>10(-2). In the range 10(-2)>or=f>or=10(-5), numerical simulations for the toppling size exponents of all, dissipative, and last waves have been studied.

Reorientational optical nonlinearity of nematic liquid-crystal cells near the nematic-isotropic phase transition temperature.

We address the reorientational optical nonlinearity of homogeneously aligned neamtic liquid-crystal (NLC) cells. The propagation of light in NLC cells depend strongly on temperature. At a temperature approaching the clearing point, an undulating beam and multifocal points are observed in the NLC cell by use of a polarizing optical microscope.