Search results for " engineering"

Effective characterization of the phase and intensity profiles of asymmetrically distorted light pulses in optical fiber systems

2009

International audience; We address the problem of characterization of light pulses that propagate in long-haul high-bit-rate optical communication systems under strongly perturbed conditions. We show that the conventional technique for characterization of the phase and intensity profile of such pulses becomes qualitatively inconsistent when the pulse's profile is asymmetrically distorted with respect to its center of mass. We resolve these inconsistencies by partially reformulating the conventional technique by means of appropriate pulse parameters, which we call upgraded parameters, that allow a fair characterization of the intensity and phase of all types of light pulses, including those …

Supercontinuum generation in titanium dioxide waveguides

2019

International audience; Optical supercontinua are a fundamental topic that has stimulated a tremendous practical interest since the early works of Alfano et al. in the 70’s in bulk components. Photonic crystal fibers have then brought some remarkable potentialities in tailoring the dispersive properties of a waveguide while maintaining a high level of confinement over significant propagation distances. The next breakthrough is to further reduce the footprint of the nonlinear component and to achieve the generation of optical supercontinuum on a photonic chip. To reach this aim, several platforms have been successfully investigated such as silicon, silicon germanium, silicon nitride, chalcog…

Active components for integrated plasmonic circuits

2009

International audience; We present a comprehensive study of highly efficient and compact passive and active components for integrated plasmonic circuit based on dielectric-loaded surface plasmon polariton waveguides.

The Challenges of Air Protection and Control

2016

Les enjeux de la sécurité des objets connectés et applications de santé

2016

International audience; The challenges of security of connected objects and health applicationsThe market for connected objects and health applications is booming and is expected to be several billion euros in revenue in the coming years. Their development will have a similar impact to what we experienced with the development of internet earlier this century but even more it should disrupt the organization of our health system, profoundly change the management of care and revolutionize prevention, but it could also call into question medical confidentiality and protection of personal data. This article analyses the societal implications of OCS, the need for a dual medical and ethical evalua…

Determination of the chemical warfare agents Sarin, Soman and Tabun in natural waters employing fluorescent hybrid silica materials

2017

[EN] A novel mesoporous silica material containing boron-dipyrromethene (BODIPY) moieties (I) is employed for the detection of nerve agent simulants (NASs) and the organophosphate nerve or chemical warfare agents (CWAs) Sarin (GB), Soman (GD), and Tabun (GA) in aqueous environments. The reactive BODIPY dye with an optimum positioned hydroxyl group undergoes acylation reactions with phosph(on)ate substrates, yielding a bicyclic ring. Due to aggregation of the dyes in water, the sensitivity of the free dye in solution is very low. Only after immobilization of the BODIPY moieties into the silica substrates is aggregation inhibited and a sensitive determination of the NASs diethyl cyanophosphon…

Unveiling the Occurrence of Co(III) in NiCo Layered Electroactive Hydroxides: The Role of Distorted Environments

2020

Co- and Ni-based layered hydroxides constitute a unique class of two-dimensional inorganic materials with exceptional chemical diversity, physicochemical properties and outstanding performance as supercapacitors and overall water splitting catalysts. Recently, the occurrence of Co(III) in these phases has been proposed as a key factor that enhance their electrochemical performance. However, the origin of this centers and control over its contents remains as an open question. We employed the Epoxide Route to synthesize a whole set of α-NiCo layered hydroxides. The PXRD and XAS characterization alert about the occurrence of Co(III) as a consequence of the increment in the Ni content. DFT+U si…

Heavy enzymes and the rational redesign of protein catalysts

2019

Abstract An unsolved mystery in biology concerns the link between enzyme catalysis and protein motions. Comparison between isotopically labelled “heavy” dihydrofolate reductases and their natural‐abundance counterparts has suggested that the coupling of protein motions to the chemistry of the catalysed reaction is minimised in the case of hydride transfer. In alcohol dehydrogenases, unnatural, bulky substrates that induce additional electrostatic rearrangements of the active site enhance coupled motions. This finding could provide a new route to engineering enzymes with altered substrate specificity, because amino acid residues responsible for dynamic coupling with a given substrate present…

A Cationic Oligomer as an Organic Template for Direct Synthesis of Aluminosilicate ITH Zeolite

2020

There are a large number of zeolites, such as ITH, that cannot be prepared in the aluminosilicate form. Now, the successful synthesis of aluminosilicate ITH zeolite using a simple cationic oligomer as an organic template is presented. Key to the success is that the cationic oligomer has a strong complexation ability with aluminum species combined with a structural directing ability for the ITH structure similar to that of the conventional organic template. The aluminosilicate ITH zeolite has very high crystallinity, nanosheet-like crystal morphology, large surface area, fully four-coordinated Al species, and abundant acidic sites. Methanol-to-propylene (MTP) tests reveal that the Al-ITH zeo…

Kinetic control in the temperature-dependent sequential growth of surface-confined supramolecular copolymers

2017

We report the sequential growth of supramolecular copolymers on gold surfaces, using oppositely charged dendritic peptide amphiphiles. By including water-solubilising thermoresponsive chains in the monomer design, we observed non-linear effects in the temperature-dependent sequential growth. The step-wise copolymerisation process is characterised using temperature dependent SPR and QCM-D measurements. At higher temperatures, dehydration of peripheral oligoethylene glycol chains supports copolymer growth due to more favourable comonomer interactions. Both monomers incorporate methionine amino acids but remarkably, desorption of the copolymers via competing sulphur gold interactions with the …