The paper presents a measuring system based on two resonators with a SAWacoustic surface wave. One of the resonators contains a sensor structure consisting of a Nafion layer with a PANI polyaniline nanolayer deposited on it. The sensor structure was tested for carbon monoxide, with a very low concentration (5, 10, 15, 20 ppm) in the atmosphere of synthetic air. The structure sensitivity was tested for two different PANI thicknesses: (100 and 180 nm). The tests were carried out for two different temperatures: 308 K and 315 K. The investigations shows that the measuring system used with the acoustic surface wave together with the proposed sensing layers is sensitive to the presence of low concentration carbon monoxide molecules in the atmosphere of synthetic air.
Professor Aleksander Opilski has passed away on 20 April 2012.
Aleksander Opilski was born on 31 August 1931 in Zagórze in the then Śląskie Voivodship. He underwent his 1st level studies in the years 1950–1953 at the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. His 2nd level academic education was completed at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań from which he graduated in 1958 as a Master of Science in Physics.
Nowadays the “gold clinical standard” of hemodynamics diagnostic and cardiac output measurements is pulmonary artery catheterization by means of the Swan-Ganz catheter and thermodilution. The method itself is sensitive to numerous disturbances which cause inaccurate results. One of the well-known disadvantages of thermodilution is the overestimation of results at low values of cardiac output. This effect may concern the limited slew rate of the thermoelement mounted at the tip of the catheter. In this paper the relationship between the dynamic response of the thermoelement and the uncertainty of cardiac output measurements by means of thermodilution has been investigated theoretically and experimentally.
The paper presents the results of numerical analysis of the SAW gas sensor in the steady and non-steady states. The effect of SAW velocity changes vs surface electrical conductivity of the sensing layer is predicted. The conductivity of the porous sensing layer above the piezoelectric waveguide depends on the profile of the diffused gas molecule concentration inside the layer. The Knudsen’s model of gas diffusion was used.
Numerical results for the effect of gas CH4 on layers: WO3, TiO2, NiO, SnO2 in the steady state and CH4 in the non-steady state in recovery step in the WO3 sensing layer have been shown. The main aim of the investigation was to study thin film interaction with target gases in the SAW sensor configuration based on simple reaction-diffusion equation.
The results of the numerical analysis allow to select the sensor design conditions, including the morphology of the sensor layer, its thickness, operating temperature, and layer type. The numerical results basing on the code elaborated numerical system (written in Python language), were analysed. The theoretical results were verified and confirmed experimentally.
The paper presents the results of investigations concerning the application of zinc oxide - a wideband gap semiconductor in optical planar waveguide structures. ZnO is a promising semiconducting material thanks to its attractive optical properties. The investigations were focused on the determination of the technology of depositions and the annealing of ZnO layers concerning their optical properties. Special attention was paid to the determination of characteristics of the refractive index of ZnO layers and their coefficients of spectral transmission within the UV-VIS-NIR range. Besides that, also the mode characteristics and the attenuation coefficients of light in the obtained waveguide structures have been investigated. In the case of planar waveguides, in which the ZnO layers have not been annealed after their deposition, the values of the attenuation coefficient of light modes amount to a~ 30 dB/cm. The ZnO layers deposited on the heated substrate and annealed by rapid thermal annealing in an N2 and O2 atmosphere, are characterized by much lower values of the attenuation coefficients: a~ 3 dB/cm (TE0 and TM0 modes). The ZnO optical waveguides obtained according to our technology are characterized by the lowest values of the attenuation coefficients a encountered in world literature concerning the problem of optical waveguides based on ZnO. Studies have shown that ZnO layers elaborated by us can be used in integrated optic systems, waveguides, optical modulators and light sources.
The paper presents analyses of current research projects connected with explosive material sensors. Sensors are described assigned to X and γ radiation, optical radiation sensors, as well as detectors applied in gas chromatography, electrochemical and chemical sensors. Furthermore, neutron techniques and magnetic resonance devices were analyzed. Special attention was drawn to optoelectronic sensors of explosive devices.