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Emulsion droplets of liquid crystals (LC) suspended in water and labeled with a suitable fluorescent dye can serve as active optofluidic microcavities, since the contrast of refractive index between the LC droplets and the surrounding aqueous medium allows excitation of whispering gallery modes (WGMs) in the droplets. In addition, such emulsion droplets can be also stably trapped in three-dimensions using optical tweezers which stabilizes the droplets while investigating their spectral characteristics. We explore various combinations of fluorescently dyed LC droplets and host liquid-surfactant systems and show that the WGM emission spectrum of an optically trapped LC droplet-based cavity can be largely and (almost) reversibly tuned by controlled changes of the ambient temperature that induce phase transitions in the LC droplets. Our results indicate feasibility of this approach for creating miniature tunable sources of coherent light., Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey (Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK)); COST Action; Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic; European Commission Project

Nowadays thermal plasma spray coating is widespread in automobile industry. For example, in the cylinder manufacturing process coatings are applied for friction reduction, wear and corrosion resistance. After the honing process, a coated surface exhibits porous microstructures, which are often characterized in order to understand functional correlations between key parameters of the pores and friction performance. In this paper, spatial point pattern analysis is used to investigate the pores' distribution in a two dimensional space. Methods, such as nearest neighbor analysis and Ripley's K-function, are used to conduct the experiments to analyze the observer's pattern. Different edge correction methods in Ripley's K-function are introduced. Confidence envelopes are simulated using the Monte Carlo method. Experimental results are presented to reveal the patterns of pores, where influences of the selected measurement area on the results are taken into account and further discussed. © 2015 SPIE.

Bright white light sources are of significant importance for automotive front lighting systems. Today's upper class systems mainly use HID or LED light sources. As a further step laser diode based systems offer a high luminance, efficiency and allow the realization of new dynamic and adaptive light functions and styling concepts. The use of white laser diode systems in automotive applications is still limited to laboratories and prototypes even though announcements of laser based front lighting systems have been made. But the environment conditions for vehicles and other industry sectors differ from laboratory conditions. There for a model of the system's thermal behavior is set up. The power loss of a laser diode is transported as thermal flux from the junction layer to the diode's case and on to the environment. There for its optical power is limited by the maximum junction temperature (for blue diodes typically 125 - 150°C), the environment temperature and the diode's packaging with its thermal resistances. In a car's headlamp the environment temperature can reach up to 80°C. While the difference between allowed case temperature and environment temperature is getting small or negative the relevant heat flux also becomes small or negative. In early stages of LED development similar challenges had to be solved. Adapting LED packages to the conditions in a vehicle environment lead to today's efficient and bright headlights. In this paper the need to transfer these results to laser diodes is shown by calculating the diodes lifetimes based on the presented model. © 2015 SPIE.

Examining the geometry of complex industrial free form objects, like a blade integrated disk (blisk) of a jet engine compressor, is currently subject to research. High measurement precision and speed are required and the complex geometry poses a challenge for state of the art measurement systems. In order to fulfill typical inspection requirements, the fringe projection methodology was adapted in this work to accomplish the task of fast and precise geometry examination. A low cost borescopic fringe projection system for 3D shape measurement based on consumer electronics combined with state of the art optics was developed. Nevertheless, it is able to provide measurement uncertainties comparable to professional systems. We are using a portable consumer LED-beamer, which we have modified to fit the optics of the borescope and a Raspberry Pi single-board computer with a 5 megapixel camera to capture the fringe patterns. With this setup and fringe projection algorithms, which have been developed by this institute over the last years, we were able to perform high quality measurements while still being suitable for a compact inspection system. Measurements with high point densities are possible even in narrow areas of parts with complex geometries like blisks. The measuring system and first measurement results will be presented at the conference. © 2015 SPIE.