| 1. |
- Fornara, Andrea, 1980-
(författare)
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Multifunctional nanomaterials for diagnostic and therapeutic applications
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In the past few years, the use of nanostructured materials in medical applications hasdramatically increased, both in the research phase and for clinical purposes, due to thepeculiar properties and the ability of such materials to interact at a similar scale withbiological entities. In this thesis, we developed tailored magnetic multifunctionalnanoparticles for diagnostic and therapeutic applications, such as detection ofbiomolecules, simultaneous enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), fluorescentvisualization and controlled drug release.For sensitive and selective detection of specific biomolecules, thermally blocked ironoxide nanoparticles with tailored magnetic properties were developed. The formation ofsuch nanoparticles has been studied both in terms of size and magnetic behavior in liquidsuspension or in polymer matrixes. These particles with narrow size distribution (averagediameter of 19 nm) were surface functionalized by antigen molecules and were used forthe detection of Brucella antibodies in biological samples. The binding of biomoleculesresults in an increase in the particle’s hydrodynamic diameter, affecting the relaxationbehavior that was monitored by magnetic measurements. This sensing system is a fastand sensitive biosensor with very low detection limits (0.05 μg/mL).Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION) have been synthesized withaverage diameter of 10-12 nm, narrow size distribution, high crystallinity and superiormagnetic properties as liquid suspensions or embedded in a bulk transparent magneticnanocomposite. These nanoparticles were synthesized in organic solvents and, after phasetransfer with Pluronic F127 amphiphilic copolymer, show excellent relaxivity properties(high r2/r1 ratio) and great contrast enhancement in T2 weighted MRI, confirmed by invivostudies of rat inner ear.SPION have been used as a component for different multifunctional nanostructures. Thefirst system based on poly (L,L lactide)-methoxy polyethylene glycol (PLLA-mPEG)copolymer has been prepared by an emulsion/evaporation process that lead to polymericnanoparticles containing several imaging agents, such as SPION, quantum dots (QDs)and gold nanorods as well as indomethacin (IMC) as therapeutic payload. With a similarprocedure, but using poly (lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA-PEG-NH2) copolymer, a secondtype of multifunctional nanoparticles has been obtained. Their size can be tailored from70 to 150 nm varying synthesis parameters, such as the surfactant concentration or waterto oil ratio. Both these polymer-based multifunctional nanoparticles can be visualized byfluorescence microscopy (QDs photoemission) and MRI (SPION magnetization) and theycan be used for photothermal therapy (gold nanorods) and drug delivery. The last systemconsists of SPION nanoparticles coated with PLLA directly on the surface by an in-situpolymerization process. A hydrophobic drug was loaded before the phase transfer withPluronic F127 and these nanoparticles show simultaneous MRI T2 contrast enhancementas well as high drug loading and sustained delivery.Controlling the drug release rate is also a critical parameter for tailored therapeutictreatments, and for this reason we developed a novel drug delivery system based on theintegration of SPION and Pluronic F127 gels. IMC was loaded in the ferrogel (with atailored gelation temperature) and its release rate was triggered by applying an externalmagnetic field owing to the SPION magnetic properties.
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| 2. |
- Li, Jiantong, 1980-
(författare)
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Ink-jet printing of thin film transistors based on carbon nanotubes
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The outstanding electrical and mechanical properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) may offer solutions to realizing high-mobility and high-bendability thin-film transistors (TFTs) for the emerging flexible electronics. This thesis aims to develop low-cost ink-jet printing techniques for high-performance TFTs based on pristine SWCNTs. The main challenge of this work is to suppress the effects of “metallic SWCNT contamination” and improve the device electrical performance. To this end, this thesis entails a balance between experiments and simulations. First, TFTs with low-density SWCNTs in the channel region are fabricated by utilizing standard silicon technology. Their electrical performance is investigated in terms of throughput, transfer characteristics, dimensional scaling and dependence on electrode metals. The demonstrated insensitivity of electrical performance to the electrode metals lifts constrains on choosing metal inks for ink-jet printing. Second, Monte Carlo models on the basis of percolation theory have been established, and high-efficiency algorithms have been proposed for investigations of large-size stick systems in order to facilitate studies of TFTs with channel length up to 1000 times that of the SWCNTs. The Monte Carlo simulations have led to fundamental understanding on stick percolation, including high-precision percolation threshold, universal finite-size scaling function, and dependence of critical conductivity exponents on assignment of component resistance. They have further generated understanding of practical issues regarding heterogeneous percolation systems and the doping effects in SWCNT TFTs. Third, Monte Carlo simulations are conducted to explore new device structures for performance improvement of SWCNT TFTs. In particular, a novel device structure featuring composite SWCNT networks in the channel is predicted by the simulation and subsequently confirmed experimentally by another research group. Through Monte Carlo simulations, the compatibility of previously-proposed long-strip-channel SWCNT TFTs with ink-jet printing has also been demonstrated. Finally, relatively sophisticated ink-jet printing techniques have been developed for SWCNT TFTs with long-strip channels. This research spans from SWCNT ink formulation to device design and fabrication. SWCNT TFTs are finally ink-jet printed on both silicon wafers and flexible Kapton substrates with fairly high electrical performance.
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| 3. |
- Qin, Jian, 1980-
(författare)
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Environment-Sensitive Multifunctional Drug Delivery Systems
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Drug delivery systems (DDS) with multiple functionalities such as environment-sensitive drug release mechanisms and visualization agents have motivated the biomedical community as well as materials chemists for more than a decade. This dissertation is concerned with the development of nanoparticles for multifunctional DDS to tackle several crucial challenges in these complex systems, including polymeric nanospheres which respond to temperature change, superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles/polymeric composite for magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents and drug carriers, immunoresponse of nanomaterials and injectable magnetic field sensitive ferrogels. The biocompatible and biodegradable polylactide (PLA) was employed as matrix materials for polymeric nanosphere-based DDS. The thermosensitive polymeric nanospheres have been constructed through a “modified double-emulsion method”. The inner shell containing the thermosensitive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) undergoes a “hydrophilic-to-hydrophobic” phase transition around the human body temperature. The sensitivity of the polymer to the temperature can facilitate drug release at an elevated temperature upon administration. In addition, gold nanoparticles were assembled on the dual-shell structure to form a layer of gold shell. The cell viability was found to be enhanced due to the gold layer. The immunoresponse of the gold nanoparticles has been considered even if no acute cytotoxicity was observed. Imaging is another functionality of multifunctional DDS. This work focuses on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and involves synthesis and surface modification of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) for contrast agents. The SPIONs have been prepared through a high temperature decomposition method. Surface modification was carried out in different ways. Poly(L,L-lactide) (PLLA) was grafted on SPIONs through surface-initiated ring-opening polymerization. The hydrophobic model drug indomethacin was loaded in the PLLA layer of the composite particles. For biomedical applications, it is essential to modify the hydrophobic particles so that they can be dispersed in physiological solutions. A series of protocols including using small charged molecules and amphiphilic polymers has been established. Pluronic F127 (PF127), a triblock copolymer was applied as a phase transfer reagent. Most interestingly, PF127@SPIONs show remarkable efficacy as T2 contrast agents. The PF127@SPIONs have been successfully applied to image the cochlea in a rat model. As another phase transfer reagent, poly(maleic anhydride-alt-octadecene)-graft-PNIPAAm (PMAO-graft-PNIPAAm) was created for surface modification of SPIONs. This new copolymer provides the modified SPIONs with thermosensitivity together with water-dispersibility. As another form of DDS, ferrogel made of PF127 copolymer and SPIONs was developed. Gelation process depends on the temperature of the SPIONs/PF127 mixture. This property makes it possible to use the ferrogel as an injectable drug carrier. Unlike other ferrogels based on crosslinked polymeric network, the PF127 ferrogel can entrap and release hydrophobic drugs. Application of an external magnetic field is found to enhance the drug release rate. This property can find application in externally stimulated local drug release applications.
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| 4. |
- Sugunan, Abhilash, 1980-
(författare)
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Photochemical and Photoelectric Applications of II-VI Semiconductor Nanomaterials
- 2010
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this work we investigated fabrication of semiconductor nanomaterials and evaluated their potential for photo-chemical and photovoltaic applications. We investigated two different II-VI semiconductor nanomaterial systems; (i) ZnO oriented nanowire arrays non-epitaxially grown from a substrate; and (ii) colloidal CdTe nanotetrapods synthesized by solution-based thermal decomposition of organo-metallic precursors. In both the cases our main focus has been optimizing material synthesis for improving potential applications based on photon-electron interactions. We have studied the synthesis of vertically aligned ZnO nanowire arrays (NWA), by a wet chemical process on various substrates. The synthesis is based on epitaxial growth of ZnO seed-layer on a substrate in a chemical bath consisting of an aqueous solution of zinc nitrate and hexamethylenetetramine (HMT). We have suggested an additional role played by HMT during the synthesis of ZnO nanowire arrays. We have also extended this synthesis method to fabricate hierarchical nanostructures of nanofibers of poly-L-lactide acting as a substrate for the radially oriented growth of ZnO nanowires. The combination of high surface area of the nanofibrous substrate with the flexibility of the PLLA-ZnO hierarchical nanostructure enabled the proof-of-principle demonstration of a ‘continuous-flow’ water treatment system that could effectively decompose single and combination of known organic pollutants in water, as well as render common waterborne bacteria nonviable. We have studied another chemical synthesis that is commonly used for size controlled synthesis of colloidal quantum dots, which was modified to obtain anisotropic nanocrystals mainly for CdE (E=S, Se, Te) compositions. In this work we demonstrate by use of oleic acid (instead of alkylphosphonic acids) it is possible to synthesize CdTe and CdSe nanotetrapods at much lower temperatures (~180 ºC) than what is commonly reported in the literature, with significantly different formation mechanism in the low-temperature reaction. Finally, we have performed preliminary photoconduction measurements with CdTe nanotetrapods using gold ‘nanogap’ electrodes fabricated in-house, and obtain up to 100 times enhancement in current levels in the I–V measurements under illumination with a white light source.
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| 5. |
- Szamota-Leandersson, Karolina, 1968-
(författare)
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Electronic structure of clean and adsorbate-covered InAs surfaces
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis is the result of investigations regarding the processes in InAs III-V semiconductor surfaces induced by additional charge incorporated by adsorbates. The aim of the project is to study the development of the accumulation layer on the metal/InAs(111)A/B surfaces and its electronic structure. InAs(111)A is indium-terminated and InAs(111)B is arsenic-terminated. In addition, InAs(100) is also studied. These three substrates are different; InAs(111)A has a (2x2)-termination, explained by an indium vacancy model, and the clean surface exhibits a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG). InAs(111)B(1x1) is bulk-truncated and unreconstructed and does not host a 2DEG. InAs(100)(4x2)/c(8x2) exhibits a more covalent character of the surface bonds compared to InAs(111)A/B, and the surface is terminated by a complex reconstruction. Photoelectron spectroscopy and LEED (low energy electron diffraction) have been used as the main tools to study surfaces with sub-monolayer to monolayer amounts of adsorbates. A photoemission peak related to a two-dimensional electron gas appears close to the Fermi level. This 2DEG has in most cases InAs bulk properties, since it is located in the InAs conduction band. A systematic study of core levels and valence bands reveals that the appearance of the 2DEGs is a complex process connected to the surface order. Adsorption of lead, tin or bismuth on InAs(111)B(1x1) induces emission from a 2DEG, but only at monolayer coverage and when the surface is ordered. Cobalt reacts strongly with InAs forming InCo islands and no accumulation is observed. Examination of Cs/InAs(111)B does not reveal any 2DEG and the surface reaction is strongly related to the clean surface stabilization process. Examination of the In-terminated InAs(111)A(2x2) surface shows that In reacts strongly with cobalt and tin adatoms and with oxygen in cases of large exposure, which decreases the 2DEG intensity, while adatoms of cesium and small doses of oxygen enhance the emission from the 2DEG. InAs(100) is terminated with one kind of atom - the InAs(100)(4x2)/c(8x2) is indium terminated. Bismuth creates dimers on the surface and a 2DEG is observed. More generally, this thesis describes some of the general physical background applied to surface science and 2DEG. The first part is a general overview of the processes on the surface. The second part concentrates on the methods related to preparation of samples, and the third part on the measurement methods. The photoelectron spectroscopy part concerns the theory used in mapping electronic structure. The inserted figures are taken from different experiments, including results for InAs(111)A not previously published.
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| 6. |
- Tang, Yongbo
(författare)
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Study on electroabsorption modulators and grating couplers for optical interconnects
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Decades of efforts have pushed the replacement of electrical interconnects by optical links to the interconnects between computers, racks and circuit boards. It may be expected that optical solutions will further be used for inter-chip and intra-chip interconnects with potential benefits in bandwidth, capacity, delay, power consumption and crosstalk. Silicon integration is emerging to be the best candidate nowadays due to not only the dominant status of silicon in microelectronics but also the great advantages brought to the photonic integrated circuits (PICs). Regarding the recent breakthroughs concerning active devices on silicon substrate, the question left is no longer the feasibility of the optical interconnects based on silicon but the competitiveness of the silicon device compared with other alternatives. This thesis focuses on the study of two key components for the optical interconnects, both especially designed and fabricated for silicon platform. One is a high speed electroabsorption modulator (EAM), realized by transferring an InP-based segmented design to the hybrid silicon evanescent platform. The purpose here is to increase the speed of the silicon PICs to over 50 Gb/s or more. The other one is a high performance grating coupler, with the purpose to improve the optical interface between the silicon PICs and the outside fiber-based communication system. An general approach based on the transmission line analysis has been developed to evaluate the modulation response of an EAM with a lumped, traveling-wave, segmented or capacitively-loaded configuration. A genetic algorithm is used to optimize its configuration. This method has been applied to the design of the EAMs on hybrid silicon evanescent platform. Based on the comparison of various electrode design, segmented configuration is adopted for the target of a bandwidth over 40 GHz with as low as possible voltage and high extinction ratio. In addition to the common periodic analysis, the grating coupler is analyzed by the antenna theory assisted with an improved volume-current method, where the directionality of a grating coupler can be obtained analytically. In order to improve the performance of the grating coupler, a direct way is to address its shortcoming by e.g. increasing the coupling efficiency. For this reason, a nonuniform grating coupler with apodized grooves has been developed with a coupling efficiency of 64%, nearly a double of a standard one. Another way is to add more functionalities to the grating coupler. To do this, a polarization beam splitter (PBS) based on a bidirectional grating coupler has been proposed and experimentally demonstrated. An extinction ratio of around -20 dB, as well as a maximum coupling efficiency of over 50% for both polarizations, is achieved by such a PBS with a Bragg reflector underneath.
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| 7. |
- Vogt, Carmen Mihaela
(författare)
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Engineered core-shell nanoparticles for biomedical applications
- 2010
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The necessity for synthesis of nanoparticles with well controlled size and morphology emerged with the development in recent years of novel advanced applications especially in biomedical related fields. These applications require nanoparticles with more complex architecture such as multifunctional nanoparticles (i.e. core–shell structures) that can carry several components with different embedded functionalities. In this thesis, we developed core–shell nanoparticles (CSNPs) with finely tuned silica shell on iron oxide core as model system for advanced applications in nanomedicine such as MRI, drug delivery and hyperthermia.The synthesis of monodispersed, and well separated, single iron oxide core–silica (SiO2) shell nanoparticles for biomedical applications is still a challenge. Substantial amount of aggregated and multicore CSNPs are generally the undesired outcome. In this thesis, synthesis of monodispersed, free of necking, single core iron oxide-SiO2 different distinct overall size and tuneable shell thickness was performed using an inverse microemulsion method. The influence of the reaction time, hydrodynamic conditions and precursor concentration on the synthesis process and thickness of the silica layer was investigated and the process was optimised. The residual reactions during the post synthesis processing were inhibited using a combination of pH adjustment and alternating shock freezing with ultracentrifuging.The second part of the thesis is concerning thorough characterisation of the CSNPs with different shell thickness. The non-aggregated tuneable shell CSNPs maintained the superparamagnetic character of the cores with high magnetisation, showing great potential for their applications in nanomedicine. Magnetic measurements and relaxivity tests were performed and the comparison of the CSNPs with commercial products revealed the fact that relaxation time ratios (r2/r1) obtained are higher than those of the commercially available MRI contrast agents which indicates a better T2 contrast.In the last part of the thesis the in-vitro toxicity investigation results are reported. For the investigation of cytotoxicity (3- 4, 5-dimethyldiazol-2-yl)-2, 5 diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay was performed and the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-α and IL-6 was determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The cells were exposed to a wide range of concentrations of nanoparticles (between 0.5 μg/ml to 100 μg/ml). The cell toxicity results indicated no severe toxic effects on human monocyte-derived macrophages (HMDM) as model system. The internalisation of the nanoparticles by HMDM was monitored using transmission electron microscopy (TEM).The CSNPs have the capacity of forming stable colloidal dispersions at physiological pH, with desired magnetic properties, low toxicity, and the potential for further functionalisation via surface modification of the silica shell or by adding new components (i.e. quantum dots, therapeutics). These characteristics make them highly promising for drug delivery, medical imaging, hyperthermia, magnetic cell marking and cell separation as well as many other biomedical applications.
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| 8. |
- Wang, Xiaodi, 1981-
(författare)
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Ionic Conducting Composite as Electrolyte forLow Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cells
- 2010
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are considered as one of the most promising powergeneration technologies due to their high energy conversion efficiency, fuel flexibilityand reduced pollution. The current SOFCs with yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ)electrolyte require high operation temperature (800-1000 °C), which not only hinderstheir broad commercialization due to associated high cost and technologicalcomplications. Therefore, there is a broad interest in reducing the operating temperatureof SOFCs. The key to development of low-temperature SOFCs (LTSOFCs) is to explorenew electrolyte materials with high ionic conductivity at such low temperature (300-600 °C).Recently, ceria-based composite electrolyte, consisting of doped cerium oxide mixedwith a second phase (e.g. Na2CO3), has been investigated as a promising electrolyte forLTSOFCs. The ceria-based composite electrolyte has shown a high ionic conductivityand improved fuel cell performance below 600 °C. However, at present the developmentof composite electrolyte materials and their application in LTSOFCs are still at an initialstage. This thesis aims at exploring new composite systems for LTSOFCs with superiorproperties, and investigates conductivity behavior of the electrolyte. Two compositesystems for SOFCs have been studied in the thesis.In the first system, a novel concept of non-ceria-salt-composites electrolyte, LiAlO2-carbonate (Li2CO3-Na2CO3) composite electrolyte, was investigated for SOFCs. TheLiAlO2-carbonate electrolyte exhibited good conductivity and excellent fuel cellperformances below 650 oC. The ion transport mechanism of the LiAlO2-carbonatecomposite electrolyte was studied. The results indicated that the high ionic conductivityrelates to the interface effect between oxide and carbonate.In the second system, we reported a novel core-shell samarium-doped ceria(SDC)/Na2CO3 nanocomposite which is proposed for the first time, since the interface isdominant in the nanostructured composite materials. The core-shell nanocompositeparticles are smaller than 100 nm with amorphous Na2CO3 shell. The nanocompositeelectrolyte was applied in LTSOFCs and showed excellent performance. Theconductivity behavior and charge carriers have been studied. The results indicated that H+conductivity in SDC/Na2CO3 nanocomposite is predominant over O2- conductivity with1-2 orders of magnitude in the temperature range of 200-600 °C. It is suggested that theinterface in composite electrolyte supplies high conductive path for proton, while oxygenions are most probably transported by the SDC nano grain interiors. Finally, a tentativemodel “swing mechanism” was proposed for explanation of superior proton conduction.
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| 9. |
- Wang, Zhechao, 1982-
(författare)
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Investigation of New Concepts and Solutions for Silicon Nanophotonics
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Nowadays, silicon photonics is a widely studied research topic. Its high-index-contrast and compatibility with the complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor technology make it a promising platform for low cost high density integration. Several general problems have been brought up, including the lack of silicon active devices, the difficulty of light coupling, the polarization dependence, etc. This thesis aims to give new attempts to novel solutions for some of these problems. Both theoretical modeling and experimental work have been done. Several numerical methods are reviewed first. The semi-vectorial finite-difference mode solver in cylindrical coordinate system is developed and it is mainly used for calculating the eigenmodes of the waveguide structures employed in this thesis. The finite-difference time-domain method and beam propagation method are also used to analyze the light propagation in complex structures. The fabrication and characterization technologies are studied. The fabrication is mainly based on clean room facilities, including plasma assisted film deposition, electron beam lithography and dry etching. The vertical coupling system is mainly used for characterization in this thesis. Compared with conventional butt-coupling system, it can provide much higher coupling efficiency and larger alignment tolerance. Two novel couplers related to silicon photonic wires are studied. In order to improve the coupling efficiency of a grating coupler, a nonuniform grating is theoretically designed to maximize the overlap between the radiated light profile and the optical fiber mode. Over 60% coupling efficiency is obtained experimentally. Another coupler facilitating the light coupling between silicon photonic wires and slot waveguides is demonstrated, both theoretically and experimentally. Almost lossless coupling is achieved in experiments. Two approaches are studied to realize polarization insensitive devices based on silicon photonic wires. The first one is the use of a sandwich waveguide structure to eliminate the polarization dependent wavelength of a microring resonator. By optimizing the multilayer structure, we successfully eliminate the large birefringence in an ultrasmall ring resonator. Another approach is to use polarization diversity scheme. Two key components of the scheme are studied. An efficient polarization beam splitter based on a one-dimensional grating coupler is theoretically designed and experimentally demonstrated. This polarization beam splitter can also serve as an efficient light coupler between silicon-on-insulator waveguides and optical fibers. Over 50% coupling efficiency for both polarizations and -20dB extinction ratio between them are experimentally obtained. A compact polarization rotator based on silicon photonic wire is theoretically analyzed. 100% polarization conversion is achievable and the fabrication tolerance is relatively large by using a compensation method. A novel integration platform based on nano-epitaxial lateral overgrowth technology is investigated to realize monolithic integration of III-V materials on silicon. A silica mask is used to block the threading dislocations from the InP seed layer on silicon. Technologies such as hydride vapor phase epitaxy and chemical-mechanical polishing are developed. A thin dislocation free InP layer on silicon is obtained experimentally.
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| 10. |
- Yan, Wei, 1983-
(författare)
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Manipulation of Light with Transformation Optics
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Transformation optics, a recently booming area, provides people a new approach to design optical devices for manipulating light. With transformation optics, a lot of novel optical devices are proposed, such as invisibility cloaks, optical wormholes, optical black holes, illusion devices. The present thesis is devoted to investigate transformation optics for manipulating light. Firstly, an introduction to transformation optics is given. This part includes: (1) introducing differential geometry as the mathematical preparation; (2) expressing Maxwell’s equations in an arbitrary coordinate system and introducing the concept of transformation media as the foundation stone of transformation optics; (3) discussing light from the geometry perspective as the essence of transformation optics; (4) showing how to use transformation optics to design optical devices. For our works on invisibility cloaks, we analyze the properties of arbitrary shaped invisibility cloaks, and confirm their invisibility abilities. The geometrical perturbations to cylindrical and spherical shaped cloaks are analyzed in detail. We show that the cylindrical cloak is more sensitive to the perturbation than a spherical cloak. By imposing a PEC (PMC) layer at the interior boundary of the cylindrical cloak shell for TM (TE) wave, the sensitivity can be reduced dramatically. A simplified non-magnetic cylindrical cloak is also designed. We show that the dominant zeroth order scattering term can be eliminated by employing an air gap between the cloak and the cloaked region. We propose a compensated bilayer by a folding coordinate transformation based on transformation optics. It is pointed out that complementary media, perfect negative index lens and perfect bilayer lens made of indefinite media are well unified under the scope of the transformed compensated bilayer. We demonstrate the applications of the compensated bilayer, such as perfect imaging and optical illusion. Arbitrary shaped compensated bilayers are also analyzed. Nihility media known as the media with ε =μ= 0, are generalized from transformation optics as transformation media derived from volumeless geometrical elements. The practical constructions of nihility media by metamaterials are discussed. The eigen fields in the nihility media are derived. The interactions between an external incident wave and a slab of nihility media in the free space background are analyzed. A new type of transformation media called α media is proposed for manipulating light. Light rays in the α media have a simple displacement or rotation relationship with those in another media (seed media). Such relationship is named α relationship. The α media can be designed and simplified to a certain class of diagonal anisotropic media, which are related to certain isotropic media by the α relationship. Several optical devices based on the α transformation media are designed. Invisibility cloaks obtained from the coordinate transformation approach are revisited from a different perspective.
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