We studied the effect of neutral polymer poly­(vinyl alcohol) on the rheological properties and microstructure of highly charged mixed wormlike micelles of anionic and cationic surfactants, potassium oleate and n-octyl­trimethyl­ammonium bromide, without adding salt. It was shown that the polymer induces a hundredfold increase of viscosity and of longest relaxation time and the appearance of well-defined plateau modulus, which was assigned to interlacing of polymer and micellar chains. When the amount of added polymer exceeds 2 wt %, the rheological characteristics (the viscosity, the longest relaxation time, and the plateau modulus) level off because of microphase separation appearing as a result of the interplay of the segregation on the microscopic scale triggered by the energetic repulsion between polymer and surfactant components, on the one hand, and the translational entropy of counterions preventing the macroscopic phase separation, on the other hand. The formation of surfactant-rich and polymer-rich microphases was evidenced by small-angle neutron scattering and cryogenic transmission electron microscopy data. The results obtained open a new way to modify the rheological properties and the microstructure of wormlike micellar solutions.

Integrated photonics aims at on-chip controlling light in the micro-and nanoscale ranges utilizing the waveguide circuits, which include such basic elements as splitters, multiplexers, and phase shifters. Several photonic platforms, including the well-developed silicon-on-insulator and surfaceplasmon polaritons ones, operate well mostly in the IR region. However, operating in the visible region is challenging because of the drawbacks originating from absorption or sophisticated fabrication technology. Recently, a new promising all-dielectric platform based on Bloch surface electromagnetic waves (BSWs) in multilayer structures and functioning in the visible range has emerged finding a lot of applications primarily in sensing. Here, we show the effect of multimode interference (MMI) of BSWs and propose a method for implementing the advanced integrated photonic devices on the BSW platform. We determine the main parameters of MMI effect and demonstrate the operation of Mach−Zehnder interferometers with a predefined phase shift proving the principle of MMI BSW-based photonics in the visible spectrum. Our research will be useful for further developing a versatile toolbox of the BSW platform devices which can be essential in integrated photonics, lab-on-chip, and sensing applications.

The present work demonstrates the potential applicability of additive manufacturing to X-Ray refractive nano-lenses. A compound refractive lens with a radius of 5 µm was produced by the two-photon polymerization induced lithography. It was successfully tested at the X-ray microfocus laboratory source and a focal spot of 5 μm was measured. An amorphous nature of polymer material combined with the potential of additive technologies may result in a significantly enhanced focusing performance compared to the best examples of modern X-ray compound refractive lenses.

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The recent success in the development of high precision printing techniques allows one to manufacture free-standing polymer structures of high quality. Two-photon polymerization lithography is a mask-less technique with down to 100 nm resolution that provides full geometric freedom. It has recently been applied to the nanofabrication of X-ray compound refractive lenses (CRLs). In this article we report on the characterization of two sets of CRLs of different design produced by two-photon polymerization induced lithography.