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Theses/Dissertations

University of Central Florida

2020

Electrical and Computer Engineering

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Factors Affecting The Performance Of Photo-Voltaic Solar Energy Storage, Vasanth Bhat Jan 2020

Factors Affecting The Performance Of Photo-Voltaic Solar Energy Storage, Vasanth Bhat

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

One of the most important factors in a nation's development is energy availability. All the aspects of its economy are directly proportional to the energy resources. Oil is one of the most sought energy resources currently. Solar energy is one of the most important renewable sources of energy available to us. With oil deposits depleting and current global warming, there is an emphasis on using more and more renewable sources or clean energy. This has led to immense research on solar cells and how it could better be used to get maximum output. Storage of energy is another aspect that …


In Pursuit Of Low-Dimensional Manifold Structures In High-Dimensional Data, Mahlagha Sedghi Jan 2020

In Pursuit Of Low-Dimensional Manifold Structures In High-Dimensional Data, Mahlagha Sedghi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

The ever-increasing availability of large-scale and high-dimensional data offers unprecedented opportunities for data-driven studies across widely differing domains ranging from marketing and web mining, to bioinformatics and space exploration. Yet, it also poses formidable challenges in face of storing, organizing and analyzing such data. Often though, high-dimensional data tend to lie close to some low-dimensional structures. Aside from substantial computational and storage conservations, discovering such structures also contributes to improved learning and inference performance. A majority of existing work assume linear data models which fail to effectively capture the complex patterns of real-world problems. Non-linear models on the other hand …


Indium Phosphide Based Quantum Cascade Lasers Grown On Silicon Substrate, Rowel Go Jan 2020

Indium Phosphide Based Quantum Cascade Lasers Grown On Silicon Substrate, Rowel Go

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Quantum Cascade Lasers (QCLs) are semiconductor devices that, currently, have been observed to emit radiation from ~ 2.6 µm to 250 µm (1 to 100 terahertz range of frequencies). They have established themselves as the laser of choice for spectroscopic gas sensing in the mid-wavelength infrared (3-8 µm) and long-wavelength infrared (8-15 µm) region. In the 4-12 µm wavelength region, the highest performing QCL devices, in terms of wall-plug efficiency and continuous wave operation, are indium phosphide (InP) based. The ultimate goal is to incorporate this InP-based QCL technology to silicon (Si) substrate since most opto-electronics are Si-based. The main …


Ultra-Low Power Circuits And Architectures For Neuromorphic Computing Accelerators With Emerging Tfets And Rerams, Jie Lin Jan 2020

Ultra-Low Power Circuits And Architectures For Neuromorphic Computing Accelerators With Emerging Tfets And Rerams, Jie Lin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Neuromorphic computing using post-CMOS technologies is gaining increasing popularity due to its promising potential to resolve the power constraints in Von-Neumann machine and its similarity to the operation of the real human brain. To design the ultra-low voltage and ultra-low power analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) for the neuromorphic computing systems, we explore advantages of tunnel field effect transistor (TFET) analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) on energy efficiency and temperature stability. A fully-differential SAR ADC is designed using 20 nm TFET technology with doubled input swing and controlled comparator input common-mode voltage. To further increase the resolution of the ADC, we design an energy …


Nonlinear Optical Mechanisms In Semiconductors And Enhanced Nonlinearities At Epsilon-Near-Zero, Sepehr Ahmadzadeh Benis Jan 2020

Nonlinear Optical Mechanisms In Semiconductors And Enhanced Nonlinearities At Epsilon-Near-Zero, Sepehr Ahmadzadeh Benis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Light does not interact with itself in linear optical materials. Such interactions occur only in non-linear optical (NLO) materials and typically require high intensity optical beams to be signifi-cant. The ever-increasing role of NLO, where intense light may change the properties of the me-dium, has created a pressing demand to invent materials for achieving more efficient light-light and light-matter interaction due to their potential capacity to augment and possibly replace cur-rent technologies with more efficient devices. There are numerous applications of NLO devices in fundamental science, technology, health, and defense such as all-optical computation and sig-nal processing, ultrashort laser technology, …


Attosecond Transient Absorption Spectroscopy In The Water Window, Andrew Chew Jan 2020

Attosecond Transient Absorption Spectroscopy In The Water Window, Andrew Chew

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

The push to study the atomic and molecular dynamics at ever smaller time scales has been the main driving force for developing laser systems with ever shorter pulse durations. Thus far, picosecond lasers and femtosecond lasers have been used with great success in femtochemistry to study molecular dynamics such as molecular rotation and vibration, which all occur in the tens to hundreds of femtosecond. To study electron dynamics however, which are on the order of attoseconds, one needs attosecond laser sources to be able to have the time resolution required to probe ultrafast electron dynamics such as AC Stark shifts, …


Novel Fibers And Components For Space Division Multiplexing Technologies, Juan Carlos Alvarado Zacarias Jan 2020

Novel Fibers And Components For Space Division Multiplexing Technologies, Juan Carlos Alvarado Zacarias

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Passive devices and amplifiers for space division multiplexing are key components for future deployment of this technology and for the development of new applications exploring the spatial diversity of light. Some important devices include photonic lantern (PL) mode multiplexers supporting several modes, fan-in/fan-out (FIFO) devices for multicore fibers (MCFs), and multimode amplifiers capable of amplifying several modes with low differential modal gain penalty. All these components are required to overcome the capacity limit of single mode fiber (SMF) communication systems, driven by the growing data capacity demand. In this dissertation I propose and develop different passive components and amplifiers for …


Iterative Optical Diffraction Tomography For Reconstruction Of Multiply-Scattering Objects, Shengli Fan Jan 2020

Iterative Optical Diffraction Tomography For Reconstruction Of Multiply-Scattering Objects, Shengli Fan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

As a label-free, non-destructive, high-resolution, and quantitative imaging technique, optical diffraction tomography (ODT) has been widely used to image biological samples and microstructures, such as cells, tissues, and optical fibers. The refractive-index (RI) distribution of an object is reconstructed from multi-view measurements of diffracted fields emerging from the object. Typical ODT setups include the object rotating configuration (ORC) and the illumination scanning configuration (ISC). One major limitation of ODT is that it is only applicable to weakly-scattering objects. In this dissertation, novel methods have been developed to overcome the reconstruction difficulty caused by multiple scattering, so as to extend ODT …


Parallelized X-Ray Tracing With Gpu Ray-Tracing Engine, Joseph Ulseth Jan 2020

Parallelized X-Ray Tracing With Gpu Ray-Tracing Engine, Joseph Ulseth

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

X-ray diffraction tomography (XDT) is used to probe material composition of objects, providing improved contrast between materials compared to conventional transmission based computed tomography (CT). In this work, a small angle approximation to Bragg's Equation of diffraction is coupled with parallelized computing using Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) to accelerate XDT simulations. The approximation gives rise to a simple yet useful proportionality between momentum transfer, radial distance of diffracted signal with respect to incoming beam's location, and depth of material, so that ray tracing may be parallelized. NVIDIA's OptiX ray-tracing engine, a parallelized pipeline for GPUs, is employed to perform XDT …


Novel Computational Approaches For Multidimensional Brain Image Analysis, Harish Raviprakash Jan 2020

Novel Computational Approaches For Multidimensional Brain Image Analysis, Harish Raviprakash

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

The overall goal of this dissertation is focused on addressing challenging problems in 1D, 2D/3D and 4D neuroimaging by developing novel algorithms that combine signal processing and machine learning techniques. One of these challenging tasks is the accurate localization of the eloquent language cortex in brain resection pre-surgery patients. This is especially important since inaccurate localization can lead to diminshed functionalities and thus, a poor quality of life for the patient. The first part of this dissertation addresses this problem in the case of drug-resistant epileptic patients. We propose a novel machine learning based algorithm to establish an alternate electrical …


Midwave Vs Longwave Infrared Search And Track And Aerosol Scattering Target Acquisition Performance, Steven Butrimas Jan 2020

Midwave Vs Longwave Infrared Search And Track And Aerosol Scattering Target Acquisition Performance, Steven Butrimas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

The decision on whether to use a mid wave infrared (MWIR) or long wave infrared (LWIR) sensor for a given task can be a formidable verdict. The scope entails facts about the observable source, the atmospheric interactions, and the sensor parameters within the hardware device. Even when all the individual metrics are known, the combination ultimately determines whether a MWIR or LWIR sensor is more appropriate. Despite the vast number of variables at play, the reduction of inputs through focused studies can provide essential insight into MWIR and LWIR comparisons. This dissertation focuses on the roles of point source target …


Heterogeneous Integrated Photonics For Nonlinear Frequency Conversion And Polarization Diversity, Tracy Sjaardema Jan 2020

Heterogeneous Integrated Photonics For Nonlinear Frequency Conversion And Polarization Diversity, Tracy Sjaardema

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Silicon has proven to be one of the materials of choice for many integrated photonic applications. However, silicon photonics is limited by certain material shortcomings. Two shortcomings addressed in this work are zero second-order optical nonlinearity, and the lack of methods available to achieve broadband polarization diversity. Heterogeneous integrated solutions for these shortcomings of silicon photonics are presented in this work. First, nonlinear frequency conversion is demonstrated with thin-film lithium niobate on silicon substrates. The method for reaching the highest-achieved second-harmonic generation conversion efficiency, using active monitoring during periodic poling, is discussed. Additionally, a cascaded approach for generating higher-order harmonics …


Passive Scene Reconstruction In Non-Line-Of-Sight Scenarios, Andre Beckus Jan 2020

Passive Scene Reconstruction In Non-Line-Of-Sight Scenarios, Andre Beckus

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Locating and identifying hidden objects can prove critical in applications ranging from military reconnaissance to emergency rescue. Although non-line-of-sight (NLOS) reconstruction and imaging have received much attention recently, state-of-the-art methods often use coherent sources (lasers) or require control of the scene. This dissertation focuses on passive NLOS scene reconstruction using the light reflected off a diffusive wall. No control over the light illuminating the scene is assumed, and the method is compatible with the partially coherent fields ubiquitous in both indoor and outdoor environments. In order to counteract the detrimental effects of the wall, rather than measuring the 2-dimensional intensity …


High Performance Micro-Scale Light Emitting Diode Display, Fangwang Gou Jan 2020

High Performance Micro-Scale Light Emitting Diode Display, Fangwang Gou

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Micro-scale light emitting diode (micro-LED) is a potentially disruptive display technology because of its outstanding features such as high dynamic range, good sunlight readability, long lifetime, low power consumption, and wide color gamut. To achieve full-color displays, three approaches are commonly used: 1) to assemble individual RGB micro-LED pixels from semiconductor wafers to the same driving backplane through pick-and-place approach, which is referred to as mass transfer process; 2) to utilize monochromatic blue micro-LED with a color conversion film to obtain a white source first, and then employ color filters to form RGB pixels, and 3) to use blue or …


Development Of High-Power Single-Mode Yb-Doped Fiber Amplifiers And Beam Analysis, Steffen Wittek Jan 2020

Development Of High-Power Single-Mode Yb-Doped Fiber Amplifiers And Beam Analysis, Steffen Wittek

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

High-power fiber laser systems enjoy a widespread use in manufacturing, medical, and defense applications as well as scientific research, due to their remarkable power scalability, high electrical to optical efficiency, compactness and ruggedness. However, single-mode fiber power scaling has stagnated in the past years, primarily due to the onset of nonlinear effects such as stimulated Brillouin/Raman scattering and transverse modal instabilities. This thesis addresses the analysis and mitigation of transverse modal instabilities in high-power fiber amplifiers. I describe the high-power fiber amplifier testbed that I set up to test fibers fabricated in house. I will show our results of a …


Thin-Film Lithium Niobate Integrated Photonics On Silicon For Electro- And Nonlinear-Optic Applications, Amirmahdi Honardoost Jan 2020

Thin-Film Lithium Niobate Integrated Photonics On Silicon For Electro- And Nonlinear-Optic Applications, Amirmahdi Honardoost

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

In order to overcome the drawbacks associated with conventional bulk lithium niobate photonic, thin-film lithium-niobate-on-silicon has been pursued recently. This work presents contributions made to electro-, and nonlinear-optic applications of this technology. For electrooptic applications, detailed modeling and design guidelines of optical and radio-frequency parameters of ultracompact modulators are developed and their accuracy in predicting the high-speed performance of such devices have been verified by comparison with experimental results. Novel design techniques and pathways for ultrahigh-speed (sub-terahertz) operation of such modulators, achieving up to 400 GHz modulation bandwidth, are also presented. For optical interconnect applications, novel structures for ultralow-power consumption …


High-Fidelity Mini-Led And Micro-Led Displays, Yuge Huang Jan 2020

High-Fidelity Mini-Led And Micro-Led Displays, Yuge Huang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Mini-LED and micro-LED are emerging disruptive display technologies, because they can work as local dimmable backlight to significantly enhance the dynamic range of conventional LCDs, or as sunlight readable emissive displays. However, there are still unresolved issues impairing their display fidelity: 1) motion blur on high-resolution, large-size and high-luminance devices, 2) limited contrast ratio on mini-LED backlit LCD (mLED-LCD), 3) relatively high power consumption, and 4) compromised ambient contrast ratio. This dissertation tackles with each of these issues for achieving high display fidelity. Motion blur is caused by slow liquid crystal response time and image update delays. Low-duty ratio operation …


Multi-Parameter Optical Metrology: Quantum And Classical, Walker Larson Jan 2020

Multi-Parameter Optical Metrology: Quantum And Classical, Walker Larson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

The insights offered by quantum mechanics to the field of optical metrology are many-fold, with non-classical states of light themselves used to make sensors that surpass the sensitivity of sensors using classical states of light. Unfortunately, this advantage, referred to often as "super-sensitivity" is notoriously fragile, and even the slightest experimental imperfections may greatly reduce the efficacy of the non-classical sensors, sometimes completely obviating their advantage. In my thesis I have shown that the performance of an otherwise ideal two-photon interferometer, which exploits entanglement between photons to make super-sensitive measurements of phase, is crippled by the slightest introduction of decoherence …


Increasing Accuracy Performance Through Optimal Feature Extraction Algorithms, Genevieve Sapijaszko Jan 2020

Increasing Accuracy Performance Through Optimal Feature Extraction Algorithms, Genevieve Sapijaszko

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

This research developed models and techniques to improve the three key modules of popular recognition systems: preprocessing, feature extraction, and classification. Improvements were made in four key areas: processing speed, algorithm complexity, storage space, and accuracy. The focus was on the application areas of the face, traffic sign, and speaker recognition. In the preprocessing module of facial and traffic sign recognition, improvements were made through the utilization of grayscaling and anisotropic diffusion. In the feature extraction module, improvements were made in two different ways; first, through the use of mixed transforms and second through a convolutional neural network (CNN) that …


Wind Turbine Generator Overheating Solution, Gopal Singh Jan 2020

Wind Turbine Generator Overheating Solution, Gopal Singh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

An increase in the demand for electrical power and tremendous growth of renewable energy sources has been seen in the last decade, which resulted in designing the wind turbine system components for higher load point performance, resulting in higher annual energy production. Cost optimization, weight reduction, and lower non-conformance cost are some of the expectations that the wind turbine needs to meet in the present stringent market condition. Overheating of the wind turbine system components is one of the primary challenges to overcome when the system operates at a higher load point. The overheating issue of the wind turbine generator …


Characterization Of Left Ventricular Volumes And Ejection Fraction In Patients With A Left Ventricular Assist Device, Viswajith Siruvallur Vasudevan Jan 2020

Characterization Of Left Ventricular Volumes And Ejection Fraction In Patients With A Left Ventricular Assist Device, Viswajith Siruvallur Vasudevan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

In the treatment of heart patients, as a bridge to recovery, the challenge currently in using a continuous-flow left ventricular assist device (LVAD), is to provide a method to monitor the recovery of the heart. This dissertation addresses the hypothesis that continuous monitoring of the ejection fraction of a patient implanted with an LVAD should be to examine the progress of the patient without the need for excessive in vivo measurements. Also, the ejection fraction can be used to provide a control mechanism for the pump depending on the requirements of each patient. In this dissertation, the left ventricle, in …


Fluorescence Microscopy With Tailored Illumination Light, Jialei Tang Jan 2020

Fluorescence Microscopy With Tailored Illumination Light, Jialei Tang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Fluorescence microscopy has long been a valuable tool for biological and medical imaging. Control of optical parameters such as the amplitude, phase, polarization and propagation angle of light gives fluorescence imaging great capabilities ranging from single molecule imaging to long-term observation of living organisms. While numerous fluorescence imaging techniques have been developed over the past decades, there is always an inevitable tradeoff among the spatial resolution, imaging speed, contrast, photodamage and the total cost when it comes to choose the appropriate microscope. A main goal of my dissertation research is to develop state-of-the-art microscope systems that exhibit unprecedented performance in …


Monolithic Thin-Film Lithium Niobate Scanning Micromirror: Design And Simulation, Abimanyu Veerappan Jan 2020

Monolithic Thin-Film Lithium Niobate Scanning Micromirror: Design And Simulation, Abimanyu Veerappan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

In this thesis, a novel scanning micromirror is introduced in which a thin layer of lithium niobate (few micrometer thick) is utilized as both as the structural material and the actuating piezoelectric medium. In this novel monolithic design, the conventional composite torsional hinges are avoided. The finite element simulations performed and reported in here indicate that the proposed design offers a superior performance in terms of higher scan angle and linear angle control compared to the existing solutions for the same dimensions. The simulation results predict an optical scan angle of 125.6° at a resonant frequency of 550 Hz using …


Transient Mid-Ir Nonlinear Refraction In Air And Nonlinear Optical Properties Of Organometallic Complexes, Salimeh Tofighi Jan 2020

Transient Mid-Ir Nonlinear Refraction In Air And Nonlinear Optical Properties Of Organometallic Complexes, Salimeh Tofighi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

This dissertation explores two main topics: Transient nonlinear refraction of air in Mid-IR spectral range and nonlinear optical properties of organometallic complexes. For seeing a vibrational and rotational Raman response the molecule should be Raman active. The first requirement for being a Raman active molecule is that the polarizability of molecule must be anisotropic. Linear symmetric molecules do have rotational Raman spectra. Not all the vibrational mode can be excited by a femtosecond pulse. The pulsewidth of our excitation beam should be less than the half of the vibration period. In this dissertation my excitation pulsewidth is not short enough …