Three-dimensional (3D) microfabrication of photosensitive glass by femtosecond (fs) laser direct writing is demonstrated for manufacture of microchips for biomedical applications. The fs laser direct writing followed by annealing and successive wet etching can fabricate the hollow microstructures, achieving a vareiety of microfluidic components and microoptical components in a glass chip. One of the interesting and important applications of the 3D microfluidic structures fabricated by the present technique is inspection of living microorganisms. The microchips used for this application are referred to as nanoaquarium. Furthermore, the optical waveguide is written inside the glass by the fs laser direct writing without the annealing and the successive etching. It is revealed that integration of the microfluidic and microoptical components with the optical waveguides in a single glass chip is of great use for biochemical analysis and medical inspection based on optical sensing.

This paper presents a complete manipulation platform for characterization of micro-components that is being developed in the scope of the European project GOLEM. Various tools such as electrical probes and force sensors have been designed and integrated on both high precision mobile micro-robots and fixed manipulators in order to interact with micro-objects. The platform enables the user to characterize parts with sizes ranging from sub-micrometer up to the millimeter. Forces ranging from 1 mN up to 120 mN can be measured as well as electrical resistivity of microcomponents. As the characterization platform is aimed to be used by material scientists and biologists, the manipulation is "assisted" so that the user focuses on the application and not on the robotic systems. One of the key features is that the control software will automatically bring the end-effectors of the manipulators in the local (microscope) field of view. The platform is composed of an XY stage mounted on an inverted optical microscope, of manipulators (fixed and mobile) and of various sensors (optical, force and electrical).

A new design of resonant scanning mirror actuated by electromagnetic induction is presented. It is a planar device that was manufactured from 0.5 mm thick phosphor bronze by batch photofabrication. The monolithic mechanical structure have a frame, tree torsion bars and two rotors. Folded torsion bars connect the frame to the rotors, and a straight torsion bar interconnects both rotors. One rotor is devoted to the armature (moving coil), and the other rotor carries the mirror. There is a hole in the armature where a branch of the actuating magnetic core (stator) passes through, carrying the magnetic flux generated by an excitation coil of the stator. The efficiency on converting electric power to mechanical motion was increased two orders of magnitude from a previously published inductive planar device (0.005 W/deg against 2.2 W/deg). A prototype measuring 69 x 49 mm² oscillating at 64.4 Hz presented deflection angle of 12°_pp, and a quality factor Q of 200. A mathematical model was derived and a design procedure was developed. The results shown that this device has potential to replace conventional resonant scanners on high-aperture optical systems or high-power laser applications.

The purpose is to investigate the performance of cone dielectric elastomer actuator (DEA) by experiment and FEM simulation. Two working equilibrium positions of cone DEA, which correspond to its initial displacement and displacement output with voltage off and on respectively, are determined through the analysis on its working principle. Experiments show that analytical results accord with experimental ones, and work output in a workcycle is hereby calculated. Actuator can respond quickly when voltage is applied and can return to its original position rapidly when voltage is released. Also, FEM simulation is used to obtain the movement of cone DEA in advance. Simulation results agree well with experimental ones and prove the feasibility of simulation. Also, causes for small difference between them in displacement output are analyzed.

In this paper, we investigate the three finger micro/nano gripper using piezoelectric actuator. Also a brief comparison of various actuators is presented. Stress and strain contours and different conditions of structures that are used in fingers will be shown and analyzed.

The purpose of this paper is to present a possibility of improving the efficiency of light driven actuators by using pulsed laser and to investigate theoretical limit of its efficiency, thereby providing an insight for the design of an efficient light driven actuator in the future. Many light driven actuators based on the heat deposit can be regarded as heat engines, and consequently their efficiencies are subjected to the limitation from Carnot's theory, which dictates that the maximum efficiency is larger for larger temperature difference between the high- and the low-temperature reservoirs. If one uses focused laser pulses, an extremely high temperature difference can be created for a short fraction of time, therefore, there is a possibility of achieving a higher efficiency. In the theoretical treatment, a cycle in which heat is given instantaneously in an adiabatic condition was considered. The formula for the maximum efficiency was derived, which gives about the half that of Carnot cycle efficiency at an ambient temperature of 300K. In an ideal case, for the instantaneous temperature increase of 200K the maximum efficiency can be about 20 %.

An optical driven actuator has a feature of a non-contact for applying light energy remotely. An optical tweezers and a laser manipulation for small particles are powerful tool for nano-micro bio-technology. Nowadays, a vectorial vortex attracts the attention of their purpose because it can rotate the particle by polarization. In this paper, we propose a spatially variant polarized beam called vectorial vortex array for the optical tweezers. A generation mechanism of the beam consists of phenomena of the polarization made of a radial polarizer and QHQ (quarter wave plate Q and half wave plate H) and the interference. The vectorial vortex array is converted to different spatially variant polarized beams by changing geometric phase. Their polarized beams are shown in experimentally.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate a light-driven actuator with high energy conversion efficiency. Ordinarily, light-driven actuators have low conversion efficiency of about 10^-5%. This is partly due to an inefficient coupling of the material itself and the actuating mechanism. Our idea is to use a primarily tensioned thin wire as the material since wire can shrink and stretch in a specific direction. Therefore, we created a light-driven actuator with a wire of shape memory alloy. Using Argon-ion laser to irradiate the shape memory alloy, we checked the energy conversion efficiency of this actuator. As a result, we obtained an energy conversion efficiency of about 3.9% that is far greater than the ordinary value for light-driven actuators. If the reflectivity of the shape memory alloy is considered, the conversion efficiency is doubled to 7.8%. When viewed as a heat engine, 7.8% efficiency corresponds to approximately 27% of the theoretical limit from Carnot's theory.

The concept of a light driven speaker was proposed as a new category of light driven actuator, and its feasibility was experimentally demonstrated. If a diaphragm of a speaker is made up of a light-driven actuator, sound would be produced upon irradiation of a modulated light. In this scheme, the light doubles as the signal and the energy source. With a conversion efficiency of 1 %, an audible sound is supposed to be generated from a 100 mW light source, therefore, energy-wise light actuated speaker should be possible. The limitation on the energy conversion efficiency of this scheme is discussed taking into account the energy loss due to the presence of a carrier wave that accompanies transmission. Unfortunately, a material that satisfies the requirements for this scheme is not found at present. Yet, since the purpose of this work is to show the feasibility of this concept and evaluate its possibility, it is an option to employ a combination of materials. In this preliminary study, we chose to combine a piezoelectric actuator and a solar cell with an appropriate interface for matching impedance. In the experiment, an 808 nm diode laser beam was modulated at audio frequency, and shined a solar cell. The audio signal was reproduced from the connected piezoelectric speaker as an audible sound. The maximum sound output of 3.1 mW was obtained. In a different scheme the maximum energy conversion efficiency of 4.4 % was obtained. These results show that the light actuated speaker is indeed feasible.

An optically driven actuator is a non-contact method for the remote application of light energy. A new method for optically driving actuators which uses a polyvinylidine difluoride (PVDF) cantilever is proposed. The PVDF cantilever is coated with silver on one surface. The PVDF is a ferroelectric polymer that has both pyroelectric and piezoelectric properties. When one side of the cantilever is irradiated by a laser beam, an electric field is produced along cross-section of the cantilever and mechanical displacement occurs by the piezoelectric effect. The response of the PVDF cantilever is analyzed mathematically.

We demonstrate a small device with a microfluidic channel and an integrated waveguide as a compact rudimentary tool for the detection, real-time monitoring, and potentially classification of algae. In order to reduce parasitic noise the micro-device used a curved subsurface optical waveguide to illuminate particles transiting through a microfluidic channel. The changes in the transmitted signal are monitored using a quadrant-cell photo-detector. The signals wavelets from the different quadrants are used to qualitatively distinguish different families of algae. Additional information, such as flow direction, is also provided. The channel and waveguide are fabricated out of a monolithic fused-silica substrate using a femtosecond laser-writing process combined with chemical etching. This proof-of-concept device paves the way for more elaborate femtosecond laser-based optofluidic micro-instruments incorporating waveguide network designed for the real-time analysis of cells and microorganisms in the field.

Optical microcavities have numerous applications, spanning engineering and science disciplines from designing high-performance optical buffers to studying quantum effects. Recently, these devices have begun to probe biological phenomena, behaving as sensitive and specific chemical and biological sensors. The sensitivity is derived from the long photon lifetime inside the cavity, and therefore, devices with higher quality factors (Q) are more sensitive. Specificity is achieved through surface functionalization. Previously, ultra-high-Q (Q>100 million) devices demonstrated label-free, single molecule detection of biologically relevant proteins based on resonant wavelength shift. This work and more recent results using a monoclonal antibody-based surface functionalization will be presented.

We proposed the imaging-type two-dimensional Fourier spectroscopy that is the phase-shift interferometry between the objective lights. The proposed method can measure the two-dimensional spectral image on the focal plane. We construct the proposed method by the infrared radiation optical system to try to apply for the noninvasive measurement of the blood glucose level. In this report, we discuss about the spectroscopy method to measure the vessel area of the proximal skin surface that is little affected by the diffusion cased by the biological membrane.

We proposed a fabrication method of a sub-micron gap liquid chromatography micro chip by Silicon micromachining technology and performed a principle confirmation using this chip. This paper shows the fabrication process of the sub-micron gap in the flow channel which is made by the micro-pillar array formation by Silicon micromachining technology, and the deposition of poly-Si and successive thermal oxidation. It has become possible to fabricate the sub-micron order gap and control the gaps by the proposed method. Next, we deposited the ODS (octadecylsily) in the flow channel. Finally, using this chip, we performed the principle confirmation experiment of ODS deposition effect by injecting lysozyme into the flow channel. As the result, it was confirmed that the proposed method has the possibility of the separation analysis of biological samples.

Three-dimensional measurement of micro-size products is performed by optical methods and/or SPM-technology. However, there are some problems in each method. In this paper, a novel three-dimensional measurement method for a micro size product is proposed by using the Wavelet transform and the electron-beam of SEM. To perform the measurement, the mechanism of producing shadows of the grid on the surface of the object by back scattering electron beam is discussed. The principle of measurement by using this phenomenon of shadows of grid is proposed. In experiment, a bearing ball whose diameter is 500μm is measured by a grating made of a silicon wafer. It can be confirmed that the standard deviation of this measurement is about 400nm.

We proposed the imaging type 2-D Fourier spectroscopy that has the phase shifter on the Fourier transform plane. The objective lights from the transmitted component and the scattered component of the measurement object are dispersed on the different area of the Fourier transform plane. Thus, by introducing the spatial filter, we can emphatically observe the spectral characteristics of the scattered component light. And the spectral characteristics of the transmitted component and the scattered component are separately analyzed. But to apply this proposed spectroscopy to biological membrane, the transmitted light is also diffused by complex refractive index distribution of membrane. Hence, to control the directionality of the diffused reflected light, we propose the modified illumination method. By this proposed method, since the diffused reflected light form the diffracted light, we can control the diffused light as diffracted light to apply for the biological membrane.

Image processing method that detects a particular moving object from an image by a fixed camera and tracking is noticed in various fields and it is a very important subject. In this paper, we propose a moving object tracking method that can cope with change of the area accompany the random walk movement of the moving object oneself and change of the brightness arise from change of the environmental such as a masking or change of the illumination. Proposal method can be robust processing for change of the illumination based on Orientation Code Matching that is demonstrated that is robust for the masking or change of the illumination. And, using Motion Vector derived from a continuity of the random walk model motion, under the condition that there are similar walk models, it can discriminate the walk model and individually tracking. Through the some experiment, this paper inspects the effectiveness of our proposed method.

In this paper, design of an ultra high-resolution, compact and tunable optical displacement sensor for optomechatronical systems is presented. In this proposal nanophotonic principles are used to develop displacement sensor which is required strongly in micro and nano machines especially micro robotics. For this purpose, in this work nanocrystal doped micro ring resonator is used as the basic cell. Then we propose integrated case for array applications such as array of micro mirrors. We show that the proposed sensor can easily detect well below nanometer to near picometer ranges. Also, it is illustrated that using Electromagnetically Induced Transparency (EIT) resolution of the proposed sensor can be increased.

We developed a compact, fiber-coupled heterodyne interferometer for translation and tilt metrology. Noise levels below 5 pm/√Hz in translation and below 10 nrad/√Hz in tilt measurement, both for frequencies above 10^-2 Hz, were demonstrated in lab experiments. While this setup was developed with respect to the LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) space mission current activities focus on its adaptation for dimensional characterization of ultra-stable materials and industrial metrology. The interferometer is used in high-accuracy dilatometry measuring the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of dimensionally highly stable materials such as carbon-fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) and Zerodur. The facility offers the possibility to measure the CTE with an accuracy better 10^-8/K. We also develop a very compact and quasi-monolithic sensor head utilizing ultra-low expansion glass material which is the basis for a future space-qualifiable interferometer setup and serves as a prototype for a sensor head used in industrial environment. For high resolution 3D profilometry and surface property measurements (i. e. roughness, evenness and roundness), a low-noise (≤1nm/√ Hz) actuator will be implemented which enables a scan of the measurement beam over the surface under investigation.

To have higher resolution of distance in the laser range finder using the phase demodulation method, signal should be modulated with a high frequency. In the signal processing of modulation and demodulation, it is inevitable to amplify the signals. However, it is not easy to amplify the high frequency since the amplifying gain is restricted by the frequency bandwidth. It is advantageous to demodulate using an intermediate frequency in which high gain amplification as well as less contaminated signal are obtained. Analytical and experimental results are presented to show how the intermediate frequency demodulation method works and how good performance are obtained in the time and frequency domains.

The design, technology and characteristics as well as sensing applications of micromachined long-wavelength (~1.55μm) tunable vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers are reported. The laser combines an active optical component (so-called half-VCSEL) and an agile mechanical component (MEMS) in a hybrid assembly. Electrothermal actuation expands the enclosed air-gap and continuously shifts the cavity resonance towards longer wavelengths. A curved mirror membrane is deployed to solely excite the desired fundamental mode with high output power and high sidemode suppression. The comparatively high stiffness of the MEMS lifts its mechanical resonance frequency to values around 150 kHz as measured by laser Doppler vibrometry under electrostatic actuation and - at the same time - reduces its susceptibility to Brownian motion. Laser linewidths as narrow as 32MHz are demonstrated by using the self-heterodyning technique and the wavelength dependent linewidth variation is presented for the first time. After successful absorption spectroscopy experiments under steady laboratory conditions the tunable VCSEL is used for trace gas detection in a combustion process. Preliminary experimental results are shown and practically encountered problems are discussed.

We present a beam shaping method using deformable mirrors without using a target beam shape. The key to the method is the use of an image-based metric on the quality of beam with respect to the desired attributes of the super-Gaussian output beam. This technique iteratively adjusts the deformable mirror shape to minimize the metric measured using a charge-coupled device camera. Since the algorithm does not use a target beam for the optimization, it produces the resulting super-Gaussian beam geometry consistent with the constraints imposed by the limited stroke and the finite number of actuators of the deformable mirror.

In automated Tape substrate (TS) inspection, machine vision is widely adopted for their high throughput and cost advantages. However, conventional methods are overly sensitive to foreign particles or have limitations in detecting three dimensional defects such as top over-etching. In an attempt to complement vision inspection systems, we proposed utilizing x-ray inspection. To implement x-ray inspection in TS application, we developed a prototype fast and high spatial resolution x-ray imaging sensor which functions at frame rate in excess of 30 fps and has a spatial resolution of 20 µm. In this paper, the development of the sensor and its performance is addressed and the efficiency of the x-ray inspection in detecting top over-etching defects will be shown with experimental studies.

Nowadays, a number of 3D measurement methods have been developed such as stereo vision, laser structured light and PMP (Phase Measuring Profilometry) method. However, they have its own limitations : 2π ambiguity, correspondence problem, long estimation time. To solve these problems, in our previous researches [9,13], we introduced a novel sensing method adopting stereo vision and PMP technique (stereo PMP algorithm). One other difficult problem is occlusion problem needed to tackle by the stereo PMP algorithm which uses the principle of stereo vision and two cameras. The occlusion problem cannot be solved by using the principle of typical stereo vision, because there is no correspondence point in occlusion area. In our previous research based on stereo PMP algorithm, however, phase information related to the projector's position is additionally used which gives more additional information. By using this additional information, we can solve the occlusion problem effectively. In order to detect occlusion area, we adopt the principle of Dynamic Programming, while to measure the depth the principle of typical PMP algorithm and the geometrical relationship of detected depth area. To verify the efficiency of the proposed method, a series of experimental tests were performed.

Multi-axial force and torque sensing is of importance for robot control and many force-feedback applications. Minimal invasive robotic surgery (MIRS) is a possible field of application of force and torque sensors with up to six degrees of freedom. Although these sensors are not yet employed in current commercial MIRS systems, extensive work has been carried out on the development of these sensors. Some of their issues are related to their electric working principle: they are limited in performance by thermal noise, need electric power inside the patient and are not usable under influence of strong magnet fields (e. g. in MRI machines). One possible alternative is seen in fiber optic force torque sensors, since the signal demodulation may be located in some distance to the actual sensor and they also do not have to include any magnetic material. This article presents a fiber optic force and torque sensor with six degrees of freedom. The general setup resembles a Stewart Platform, whereas its connecting beams are formed by the fiber itself, and the element creating stiffness may be of arbitrary form. Only a single fiber is needed to extract all six parameters since they are measured on six multiplexed fiber Bragg grating sensors. We demonstrate how the sensor is realized and show results of torque measurements with variable load.

The design, simulation, fabrication and characterization of two SU-8 based microoptoelectromechanical systems (MOEMS) are presented in this paper: an optical accelerometer and a variable optical attenuator (VOA). Both devices consist on a quad-beam polymer structure and can be fabricated with a simple technology, requiring only two photolithographic steps. In order to overcome the fibre optics positioning, self-alignment structures have been integrated on the devices. Working principle of both devices is based in the modulation of the optical losses (when an acceleration or voltage is applied at the accelerometer or the VOA, respectively). In order to achieve the optimal behaviour, several quad beam configurations have been studied by means of mechanical and optical simulations. An optical sensitivity of 16.58 dB/g has been estimated for the optimal configuration of the accelerometer. The experimental results show a good agreement, with measured optical sensitivities of 13.1 dB/g and 17.5 dB/g for negative and positive accelerations, respectively. On the other hand, the VOA has been electrothermally actuated, taking advantage of the high thermal expansion coefficient (CTE) of the SU-8, to achieve high optical attenuation (20 dB) with low power consumption (12mW).

This paper compares frequency measurements in lead magnesium niobate-lead titanate (PMN-PT) resonators with conventional quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) resonators when exposed to acetone vapors under identical test conditions. A pumpless mechanism for driving acetone vapors by convection force was developed in our experimental setup. The frequency shift recorded in response to acetone vapor exposure for the PMN-PT resonator was more than 10,000 times larger than for the QCM resonator. Our experimental results reinforce the notion that PMN-PT resonators could be a superior replacement for QCM resonators in a variety of biosensor applications. The experimental setup heated water to produce acetone vapors, a volatile organic chemical, which were delivered to a sensing chamber to interact with the sensing unit. Chemical vapors were driven toward the sensing unit and circulated through the system via a pumpless mechanism by the principle of convection. Both types of resonators displayed a change in frequency as acetone vapors were applied, but PMN-PT showed a more significant change by several orders of magnitude.

Improving the energy conversion efficiency is one critical factor for practical usage of vibrational energy harvesting devices. In this paper, we design and prototype a vibration-based energy harvester with a high output energy density. The proposed harvester is based on a composite cantilever beam-mass design. The cantilever beam is made of a high piezoelectric constant, lead magnesium niobate-lead titanate (PMN-PT) material. A polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) coating is applied to the cantilevers to decrease stress concentration of the thin PMN-PT and therefore increase the strength of the cantilever. A PDMS proof mass is also added to decrease the natural frequency of the cantilever system and to increase displacement and the voltage output. It is found that a 7.4 mm PMN-PT cantilever with a PDMS coating and proof mass produces a sustained 0.7 mW of RMS power (16.8 V, 58 μA) at an acceleration of 55 m/s².

The development of Nano/Micro manufacturing technologies is growing rapidly and in the same manner, the investments in these areas are increasing. The applications of Nano/Micro technologies are spreading out to semiconductor production technology, biotechnology, environmental engineering, chemical engineering and aerospace. Especially, SLA is one of the most popular applications which is to manufacture 3D shaped microstructure by using UV laser and photo sensitive polymer. To make a high accuracy and precision shape of microstructures that are required from the diverse industrial fields, the information of interaction relationship between the photo resin and the light source is necessary for further research. Experiment of solidifying photo sensitive polymer by using UV LED is the topic of this paper and the purpose of this study is to find out what relationships do the reaction of the resin have in various wavelength, power of the light and time.

This paper describes the implementation of several key components that were used to build a prototype for a versatile camera system operating in a scanning electron microscope. For the precise alignment of the camera inside the vacuum chamber, a stick-slip-based actuator was developed, that can create a high torque while having small dimensions. The camera is mounted on a rail and carriage system and the implemented combination of absolute and relative optical sensors is described. Finally, several object tracking scenarios are defined and first results of implemented tracking algorithms are given.

Due to the tradeoff between field of view and resolution, the ability of traditional optical telescopes to obtain high-resolution wide field images is limited. This work presents a design for a scanning optical telescope that can produce high resolution images over a wide field of view. This is accomplished by scanning one of the telescope's optical elements. Inherent in such a design is the introduction of optical aberrations as off-axis scanning occurs. The deformable mirror technology is implemented to adaptively correct these aberrations such that on-axis resolution is achieved at off-axis scan angles. The optical design layout is optimized in software to minimize on-axis wavefront aberrations. This paper presents results involving two deformable mirrors based on different technologies: the AgilOptics mirror based on electrostatic actuators and the Imagine Optic mirror based on electromagnetic actuators. Both mirrors are similar in size (about 15mm aperture), but the Imagine Optic mirror has significantly larger actuator displacement, though at a higher cost. The static telescope design has a field of view of 0.49-degrees which is increased to 20-degrees with the AgilOptics mirror and 40-degrees with the Imagine Optic mirror.

A new Terahertz photodetector based on Electromagnetically Induced Transparency (EIT) is proposed. In the terahertz range (low energy signal) the limiting point is dark current. Dark current determines the signal-noise ratio of detectors. Our main purpose in terahertz detection is reduction of the dark current which is done by converting the incoming Terahertz IR signal to short-wavelength or visible probe optical field through EIT phenomena. For realization of this idea, we used 4-level atoms which can be implemented by quantum wells or dots. In the proposed structure, the terahertz-IR signal does not interact directly with ground state electrons, but affects the absorption characteristics of the short-wavelength or visible probe optical field that directly interact with ground state electrons. Therefore, in the proposed structure, the important thermionic dark current in terahertz detection, can be strongly reduced.

A diffusion-current theory based on the superposition theorem of constant-current sources is applied to analyzing nerve impulses transmitting through arrayed neurons laterally coupled via excitatory and inhibitory lateral connection paths. Nonlinear dynamic responses to density-modulated impulses are simulated for simple point stimulus. Responses to spatially distributed stimulus are also simulated to show that the arrayed neurons not only enhance contours of objects to be detected but also exhibit some illusions.

Inverse distortion is used to create an undistorted image from a distorted image. For each pixel in the undistorted image it is required to determine which pixel in the distorted image should be used. However the process of characterizing a lens using a model such as that of Brown, yields a non-invertible mapping from the distorted domain to the undistorted domain. There are three current approaches to solving this: an approximation of the inverse distortion is derived from a low-order version of Brown's model; an initial guess for the distorted position is iteratively refined until it yields the desired undistorted pixel position; or a look-up table is generated to store the mapping. Each approach requires one to sacrifice either accuracy, memory usage or processing time. This paper shows that it is possible to have real-time, low memory, accurate inverse distortion correction. A novel method based on the re-use of left-over distortion characterization data is combined with modern numerical optimization techniques to fit a high-order version of Brown's model to characterize the inverse distortion. Experimental results show that, for thirty-two 5mm lenses exhibiting extreme barrel distortion, inverse distortion can be improved 25 fold to 0.013 pixels RMS over the image.

We observed a propagation of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) along bent Au-wires on a thin SiO₂-coat-InP substrate with the bending radius R from 20 to 1000 μm and evaluated the bending-part attenuation coefficients, i.e., the bending losses of propagating SPPs along them with R from 20 to 400 μm by measuring the transmittance of SPPs. We discussed about the SPP propagation and the applicability to an optical electronic device and circuit of SPPs.

A new and efficient proposal for all-optical tunable mirror of VCSEL using electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) is proposed. For this purpose a slab doped with quantum dots for realization of 3-level atomic system is considered. Density matrix formulation for time evaluation of the proposed structure is used. The reflection and transmission coefficients of the considered slab are calculated and time development of the related amplitude and output power and threshold current density of VCSEL laser studied. We show that some nanometer tuning can be obtained. So, the proposed idea can open a new realization method of all-optical tunable VCSEL lasers.

Femtosecond laser technology has the ability to form stable minute grating structures on various materials, including silicon wafers and stainless steel. By forming a periodic structure on a surface of sliding parts, the tribology characteristics can be improved, because the effect of adhesion decreases. Application of a double-pulsed femtosecond laser irradiation technique can generate periodic structures with asymmetric profiles. We previously showed that microparts, such as ceramic chip capacitors and resistors, can be fed along asymmetric surfaces using simple planar symmetric vibrations. Microparts move in one direction because they adhere to these surfaces asymmetrically. In this study, we tested the ability of an asymmetric surface microfabricated by a double-pulsed femtosecond laser irradiation technique to feed 0402-type capacitors (size, 0.4 x 0.2 x 0.2 mm; weight, 0.1 mg). Among the characteristics evaluated were the differences in profiles of the two inclined surfaces, the effect of decreased adhesion, the coefficient of friction in both the forward and the backward directions, and the friction angle of the 0402-type capacitors in both directions. Using the results of feeding experiments of these capacitors, we assessed the relationship between driving frequency and feeding velocity.

Molecular diagnostic applications for pathogen detections require the ability to separate pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, etc., from a biological sample of blood or saliva. Over the past several years, conventional two-dimensional active microarrays have been used with success for the manipulation of biomolecules including DNA. However, they have a major drawback of inability to process relatively 'largevolume' samples useful in infectious disease diagnostics applications. This paper presents an active microarray of three-dimensional carbon electrodes that exploits electrokinetic forces for transport, accumulation, and hybridization of charged bio-molecules with an added advantage of large volume capability. Tall 3-dimensional carbon microelectrode posts are fabricated using C-MEMS (Carbon MEMS) technology that is emerging as a very exciting research area since carbon has fascinating physical, chemical, mechanical and electrical properties in addition to its low cost. The chip fabricated using CMEMS technology is packaged and its efficiency of separation and accumulation of charged particle established by manipulating negatively charged polycarboxylate 2 μm beads in 50 mM histidine buffer.

The feasibility to carry out the contactless actuation and control of both continuous facesheet deformable mirrors and MOEMS segmented micromirrors by manipulating van der Waals forces between electrically neutral surfaces is discussed. As we show, appropriately engineering such surface forces allows for adaptive optics strategies that are fully scalable down to the nanostructure level and that are intimately based on the optical properties of the materials involved. Since the magnitude of unretarded van der Waals forces diverges as the third power of the distance between the adaptive surface and the back-facing, actuating boundary, the novel approach proposed herein remains effective as the device size decreases even enabling one to address individual atoms. In some implementations, the actuation mechanism is driven by the dependence of van der Waals forces in semiconductors on illumination. Therefore the possibility exists, with adequate power levels, to design feed-back loops driven exclusively by light. A remarkable property of dispersion forces is their drastic behavior as a function of the topology of the interacting surfaces. This fact, at the frontier of contemporary numerical investigations, leads to the consideration of geometries in which dispersion forces are expected to change from attractive to repulsive. Finally, van der Waals forces exist between all neutral materials and contactless actuation can be achieved, for instance, even if the reflecting surface is not a conductor. This will open new multidimensional parameter space to the use of suitably designed classes of adaptive optics materials, including dielectrics, semiconductors, and multilayered structures, such as photonic-band-gap crystals.

Two-dimensional quasi-photonic crystal as microwave focusing element is studied. The proposed structure is a random square-triangle tiling system with 12-fold symmetry and, hence, 12-fold symmetry quasi crystal. For this structure, finite difference time domain for illustration of focusing of the electromagnetic wave is used and results show that with suitable selection of crystal structure output signal is exactly the same as input one. The effective index of considered structure is near to -1. This situation is useful for small spatial dispersion that is necessary for focusing.

Due to the area of the vineyard in Hokkaido is extremely large, it is very difficult and hard to eradicate weeds by human being. In order to solve this problem, we developed a dynamic image measure technique, which can be applied to the weeding robots in vineyards. The outstanding of this technique is that it can discriminate the weed and the trunk correctly and efficiently. Meanwhile, we also attempt to measure the root of trunk accurately. And a new method to measure the blocked trunk of grapes in vineyards has also been developed in this paper.

This study aims to establish an error model of the stereo measurement system considering camera vibration. At first, we verified the distribution of disparity error under the circumstance without the camera vibration and with the camera vibration. As the result, we found that we can approximate the distribution of disparity error by normal distribution under the circumstance without camera vibration and with camera vibration. And, the parameters of normal distribution are changed by the camera vibration. The parameters of the distribution of the measurement error are average μ and standard deviation σ. The parameters of the camera vibration are considered amplitude A and frequency F. In order to verify relationships during the parameters of the distribution of measurement error and the parameters of the camera vibration, we experimented using the vibration testing system. We imposed simple harmonic motion to the stereo camera. In this paper, we use stereo camera Bumblebee. As the result of experiment, the camera vibration didn't affect average μ. We found positively correlation between standard deviation σ and amplitude A. And, we found negatively correlation between standard deviation σ and frequency F. We estimate the parameters of measurement error by the parameter of the camera vibration using these relationships. So, we establish the error model of the stereo measurement system. Moreover, we define existing probability of object using the parameter of measurement error.

The industry is in need of reliable, computer aided object recognition and localization systems in automation and handling engineering. One possible application is bin picking, i.e. the task of grasping work pieces out of a storage container with a robot. Therefore, the parts do not have to be ordered or semi-ordered but can be totally unordered. 2D image processing techniques often can not perform such sophisticated tasks since the gray scale or color information provided is just not enough. An alternative is the examination of the other dimension. In this paper we discuss a novel approach to a 3D object recognizer that localizes objects by looking at the primitive features within the objects. The basic idea of the system is that the geometric primitives usually carry enough information to make possible proper object recognition and localization. The algorithms use 3D best-fitting combined with clever 2.5D preprocessing. The feasibility of the approach is demonstrated and tested by means of a prototypical bin picking system. The time taken to recognize and localize an object is < 0.5 sec., and the accuracy of the result is in the order of magnitude of the measurements inaccuracy, < 0.5 mm.

Face detection and recognition depend strongly on illumination conditions. In this paper, we present improvements in two illumination compensation methods for face recognition. Using genetic algorithms (GA) we select parameters of the Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) and Local Normalization (LN) methods to improve face recognition. In the DCT method all low frequency components within an isosceles triangle, of side Ddis, are eliminated. The best results were reported for Ddis=20. In the LN method it is proposed to normalize the value within a window by the mean and standard deviation. Best results were reported for window sizes of 7x7. In the case of the DCT method, we assigned weights to eliminate the coefficients of the low frequency components using a GA. In the case of the LN method for a fixed window size of 7x7, we selected the normalization method by a GA. We compare results of our proposed method to those with no illumination compensation and to those previously published for DCT and LN methods. We use three internationally available face databases Yale B, CMU PIE and FERET where the first two contain face images with significant changes in illumination conditions. We used Yale B for training and CMU PIE and FERET for testing. Our results show significant improvements in face recognition in the testing database. Our method performs similarly or slightly better than DCT or LN methods in images with non-homogeneous illumination and much better than DCT or LN in images with homogeneous illumination.

Traditional solutions for long term imaging of living small biological specimens and microorganisms lack efficiency due to computationally expensive algorithms, and field of view limitations in optical microscopes. This paper describes a new algorithm that allows for real time tracking of multiple 1mm nematodes called Caenorhabditis elegans with a novel optical microscope design called the Adaptive Scanning Optical Microscope (ASOM), developed at the Center for Automation Technologies and Systems (CATS). Based on the real time experimentation, an improved algorithm to track multiple worms in the presence of entanglements is generated. The stages of this development start with an enhanced digital motion controller for the ASOM high speed scanning mirror to suppress undesired vibrations that limit the system capacity to track multiple organisms. The second phase is the integration of the ASOM apparatus, the high speed motion control, and a base tracking algorithm, all which allows for rapid image acquisition to track multiple C. elegans in real time. The base algorithm was developed at CATS and has been proven to track a single C. elegans in real time. Results demonstrating the efficacy of the complete system are presented. Lastly, an enhanced tracking algorithm is described that shows improved accuracy and robustness in tracking worms even when they become entangled. Taking into account the unique ASOM design, individual segments of the worm are tracked throughout an image sequence, and a mosaic pattern covering the entire worm is subsequently created. The algorithm takes advantage of geometric and dynamic knowledge of the C. elegans such as size, and movement patterns. The enhanced algorithm is tested on previously recorded footage. Simulated tracking experiments also illustrate the effectiveness of the enhanced algorithm and are presented.

The transformation of a surface mesh from one form to another requires information about object geometry and node topology. Establishing a valid correspondence between the mesh nodes of the two bounding objects is critical for smooth shape deformation. The complexity of the task is increased if the meshes are originally created from separate sets of measured surface data. The shape transformation technique described in this paper utilizes a self-organizing feature map (SOFM), with a fixed number of nodes and known spherical topology, to fit a tessellated surface mesh around the reference data set. The nodal mesh is then allowed to gradually deform and assume the underlying geometry of the target data set. The mesh deformation is achieved through an unsupervised learning algorithm that iteratively modifies the location of nodes based on randomly selected coordinate points from the target surface. Furthermore, regional shape changes occur because the algorithm adjusts the location of nearest neighboring nodes in the evolving mesh. The correspondence between the neighboring nodes in the two bounding shapes is maintained during the intermediate stages of shape interpolation process. The algorithm's performance is illustrated using scanned surface data from several freeform objects.

Development of a high accuracy color reproduction system requires certain instrumentation and reference for color calibration. Our research led to development of a high fidelity color digital camera with implemented filters that realize the color matching functions. The output signal returns XYZ values which provide absolute description of color. In order to produce XYZ output a mathematical conversion must be applied to CCD output values introducing a conversion matrix. The conversion matrix coefficients are calculated by using a color reference with known XYZ values and corresponding output signals from the CCD sensor under each filter acquisition from a certain amount of color samples. The most important feature of the camera is its ability to acquire colors from the complete theoretically visible color gamut due to implemented filters. However market available color references such as various color checkers are enclosed within HDTV gamut, which is insufficient for calibration in the whole operating color range. This led to development of a unique color reference based on LED diodes called the LED Color Generator (LED CG). It is capable of displaying colors in a wide color gamut estimated by chromaticity coordinates of 12 primary colors. The total amount of colors possible to produce is 255¹². The biggest advantage is a possibility of displaying colors with desired spectral distribution (with certain approximations) due to multiple primary colors it consists. The average color difference obtained for test colors was found to be ▵E≈0.78 for calibration with LED CG. The result is much better and repetitive in comparison with the Macbeth ColorChecker^TM which typically gives ▵E≈1.2 and in the best case ▵E≈0.83 with specially developed techniques.

The components of the food related to the "deliciousness" are usually evaluated by componential analysis. The component content and type of components in the food are determined by this analysis. However, componential analysis is not able to analyze measurements in detail, and the measurement is time consuming. We propose a method to measure the two-dimensional distribution of the component in food using a near infrared ray (IR) image. The advantage of our method is to be able to visualize the invisible components. Many components in food have characteristics such as absorption and reflection of light in the IR range. The component content is measured using subtraction between two wavelengths of near IR light. In this paper, we describe a method to measure the component of food using near IR image processing, and we show an application to visualize the saccharose in the pumpkin.

In this paper we consider the problem of the automatic evaluation of the results of color image segmentation. There are supervised evaluation criteria based on the computation of the dissimilarity measure between segmentation result and ground truth. Also, there are unsupervised evaluation criteria that enable the quality of a segmentation result without any a priori knowledge. Here, starting from the criteria, we retained six attributes which are summarized in a performance vector and will be used for an evaluation based on a fuzzy neural network.

Nighttime images of a scene from a surveillance camera have lower contrast and higher noise than their corresponding daytime images of the same scene due to low illumination. Denighting is an image enhancement method for improving nighttime images, so that they are closer to those that would have been taken during daytime. The method exploits the fact that background images of the same scene have been captured all day long with a much higher quality. We present several results of the enhancement of low quality nighttime images using denighting.

In this paper a fully automated algorithm for building extraction from remote sensing IKONOS images is presented. Local and global enhancement of an original image improves the rate of building detection in some cases. However, some undesirable effects could occur due to image enhancement. As a result the Bayesian classification method which has been previously used could result in errors. To deal with such problems, decision fusion is used together with a shadow-based verification step to achieve a better result from locally and globally enhanced classified images. Experimental results justify the efficiency of the proposed method in dealing with the problem of building extraction in IKONOS images.

Single-line laser-camera range sensors require scanning over the object surface to measure three-dimensional (3D) surface geometry. Full-field 3D surface measurement techniques typically require more than one pattern to be projected and captured by camera. This paper presents a method to calibrate a multiple-line laser-camera range sensor using an artificial neural network (NN) to enable capture of full-field 3D surface geometry using a single projected pattern. The range sensor projects nineteen laser lines onto a surface. During calibration, points in 2D images are extracted from the intersections of nineteen laser profiles and horizontal lines marked on a calibration plate, for several calibration plate positions. A mapping of 2D image coordinates to 3D object coordinates is performed separately for each laser-line projection using a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) neural network. Experiments using different NN configurations found a network with two hidden layers of 43 nodes per layer using the sigmoidal activation function to generate the lowest 3D reconstruction errors. Errors were consistent errors over all calibration positions. Calibration with an acceptable error for many applications can be achieved without knowledge of the camera pose. The fast 3D reconstruction by the trained system may permit low resolution full-field 3D surface-geometry measurement in real-time.

Nowadays, there are many instant powdered soups around us. When we make instant powdered soup, sometimes we cannot dissolve powders perfectly. Food manufacturers want to improve this problem in order to make better products. Therefore, they have to measure the state and volume of un-dissolved powders. Earlier methods for analyzing removed the un-dissolved powders from the container, the state of the un-dissolved power was changed. Our research using ultrasonographic image can measure the state of un-dissolved powders with no change by taking cross sections of the soup. We then make 3D soup model from these cross sections of soup. Therefore we can observe the inside of soup that we do not have ever seen. We construct accurate 3D model. We can visualize the state and volume of un-dissolved powders with analyzing the 3D soup models.

Deflectometry is widely used to measure three-dimensional profile of a specular free-form surface because of its high accuracy and short inspection time. With phase data obtained by observing the fringe patterns reflected via the surface, we can measure the shape, specifically normal vector of the surface. In order to obtain the shape of specular free-form surfaces, two different phases have to be computed for a single area. Two phases are calculated by using two sets of the phase-shifting patterns with different direction, and usually eight images are needed. In this paper, we propose a two dimensional phase-shifting method, called 2D phase-shifting method, to compute two phases with different direction with a single set of 2D phase with only five images. Therefore, the proposed method is expected to have a strong impact on measurement industry where reducing the number of acquired images is desirable for increasing measurement speed. The proposed method is verified by both simulation and experiments, in which phase information is successfully extracted with 2D phase-shifting method.

Perpendicularity measurement is very important in machine assembly and calibration. Axis perpendicularity error often contributes much more to the total error than the linear positioning and straightness errors. This paper presents two new non-contact methods for measuring axis perpendicularity using vision system. In general a perpendicular master and a dial gauge are used to measure the axis perpendicularity. We can obtain the axis perpendicularity by measuring differences from the master. Therefore, its accuracy depends on the accuracy of perpendicular master. The accuracy of the perpendicular master is therefore extremely important and it is impossible that the accuracy of a perpendicularity measurement is superior to the accuracy of the perpendicular master. This paper proposes two new methods that can measure axis perpendicularity without using a perpendicular master. Absolute axis perpendicularity measurement can be achieved by vision system. The feasibility of our developed measurement methods are confirmed by several experimental results.

There exists a trade-off between the depth of field and the image resolution when the depth of field is extended by the wave-front coding method. The trade-off originates from the extension method and the inevitable detector noise. An adaptive imaging system can resolve this by minimizing extension of the depth of field to get the image of the highest resolution. In this paper, a focal plane shift method to minimize the depth extension is introduced and the trade-off relationship and the proposed concept are investigated by simulation. The trade-off is characterized by applying a set of focus measures to depth-extended images, and the proposed concept is verified by some test images.

Depth estimation in the scanning electron microscope (SEM) is an important topic especially for automation purposes. The SEM only delivers two-dimensional (2D) images, which makes manipulation processes difficult. In spite of the high depth of focus in the SEM, it is still possible to use depth from focus as a depth estimation technique for nanomanipulation applications. This article deals with the extraction of depth information from SEM images using focus-based methods, and possibilities to improve the performance of these algorithms. A new approach is presented, combining 2D object tracking with focus-based depth estimation methods in order to obtain a possibility for limited three-dimensional tracking.

This paper proposes a novel focus measure based on self-matching methods. A unique pencil-shaped profile is identified by comparing the similarity between patterns extracted around their neighborhood in each scene. Based on this, a new criterion function, CPV, is defined to evaluate focused or defocused scenes. OCM is recommended due to its invariance with regards to contrasts. Experiments using a telecentric lens are implemented to demonstrate the efficiency of proposed measure. Comparing OCM-based focus measure with conventional focus measures shows that OCM-based CPV is robust against illuminations. Using this method, pan-focused images are composed and depth information is represented.

The road vehicle communication system constitutes an important component of an intelligent transportation system (ITS). In this structure, control station is connected to base station via optical fiber for accomplishing high bandwidth data exchange. Due to millimeter-wave feature, the system has small cells and also provides high mobility. In order to have fast handover and dynamic bandwidth allocation, a medium access control scheme is used. Base stations are deployed along the road to support the communication link to a vehicle. In this paper, we use a quasi-crystal lens to focus the reflected waves to reduce the number of the base stations. The structure of the quasicrystal lens posses 12-fold symmetry and hence 12-fold symmetric quasi-crystal. In this quasi structure, we have demonstrated that if we select a proper slab thickness, we can achieve focusing in the outside of the slab as well as equal intensity of the source wave.

This paper presents a comparative study of two task space control approaches. The first approach, similar to most of task space controllers, makes use of an inner velocity loop. The second proposed approach employs an inner proportional derivative (PD) joint position-velocity loop. A stability proof for the second apprach is provided together with experiments using a visual servoed robot. It is shown that the proposed control law needs less gain at the task space level then precluding amplification of the measurement noise; moreover, it is shown that the first approach produces uncontrolled movements when the task space sensor fails whereas the proposed controller avoids uncontrolled behavior

In this paper, we study an image-based PID control of a redundant planar parallel robot using a fixed camera configuration. The control objective is to move the robot end effector to the desired image reference position. The control law has a PD term plus an integral term with a nonlinear function of the position error. The proportional and integral actions use image loop information whereas the derivative action adds task space damping using joint level measurements. The Lyapunov method and the LaSalle invariance principle allow assessing asymptotic closed loop stability. Experiments show the feasibility of the proposed approach.

The performance of the alignment governs the quality of the optical communications. The active alignment methods search the position with highest optical power and connect fiber on this position. Thus, active method can adjust the connection for different properties on the fiber end-face. In the literatures, the methods for the multi-fiber alignment can increase the optical power summation of all fibers, but the results are not very accurate. This study used the numerical optimization methods, the gradient based and non-gradient based methods, for the optical component alignment, and discusses the performance on different optimization methods applied on multi-fiber alignment. There are two indexes used to judge the performances of different methods: the required time and the optical power. It is obvious that the gradient based methods can have the results with better optical power, and the non-gradient based methods are very fast to converge, but the optical powers are still very small comparing to the gradient based methods.

Insufficient vision information such as occlusion, low resolvability, and a small field of view (FOV) represent important issues in microassembly and micromanipulation. In previous research, an active optical system was designed to supply a compact flexible view. However the complex kinematics makes the system operation and calibration much difficult. In this paper, a decoupling design for the variable view image system with a telecentric lens group is proposed to decouple the view angle and scanning mirror angle. The proposed design increases the range of zenith angle. The forward kinematics is analyzed with the help of vector diffraction theory. The singularity of Jacobin is analysis and the singularity configurations are identified. In order to verify the proposed system, a prototype system is built up. A series of experiments on the prototype system shows the validity of the new design.

The rapid fabrication of polymeric mold masters by laser micromachining and hot-intrusion permits the low cost manufacture of microfluidic devices with near optical quality surface finishes. A metallic hot intrusion mask with the desired microfeatures is first machined by laser and then used to produce the mold master by pressing the mask onto a polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) substrate under applied heat and pressure. A thorough understanding of the physical phenomenon is required to produce features with high dimensional accuracy. A neural network approach to modeling the relationship among microchannel height (H), width (W), the intrusion process parameters of pressure and temperature is described in this paper. Experimentally acquired data are used to both train and test the neural network for parameterselection. Analysis of the preliminary results shows that the modeling methodology can predict suitable parameters within 6% error.