Constrained layer damping treatments promise to be an effective method to control vibration in flexible structures. Cutting both the constraining layer and the viscoelastic layer, which leads to segmentation, increases the damping efficiency. However, this approach is not always effective. A parametric study was carried out using modal strain energy method to explore interaction between segmentation and design parameters, including geometry parameters and material properties. A finite element model capable of handling treatments with extremely thin viscoelastic layer was developed based on interlaminar continuous shear stress theories. Using the developed method, influence of placing cuts and change in design parameters on the shear strain field inside the viscoelastic layer was analyzed, since most design parameters act on the damping efficiency through their influence on the shear strain field. Furthermore, optimal cut arrangements were obtained by adopting a genetic algorithm. Subject to a weight limitation, symmetric and asymmetric configurations were compared. It was shown that symmetric configurations always presented higher damping. Segmentation was found to be suitable for treatments with relatively thin viscoelastic layer. Provided that optimal viscoelastic layer thickness was selected, placing cuts would only be applicable to treatments with low shear strain level inside the viscoelastic layer.

The results of complex studies of static and dynamic performance of 1550 nm-range VCSELs, which were created by direct bonding (wafer fusion technique) InAlGaAs/InP optical cavity wafers with AlGaAs/GaAs distributed reflector wafers grown by molecular beam epitaxy, are presented. The VCSELs with a buried tunnel junction diameter less than 7 μm demonstrated a single-mode lasing with a side-mode suppression ratio more than 40 dB; however, at diameters less than 5 μm, a sharp increase in the threshold current is observed. It is associated to the appearance of a saturable absorber due to penetration of optical mode into the non-pumped regions of the active region. The maximum single-mode output optical power and the–3 dB modulation bandwidth reached 4.5 mW and 8 GHz, respectively, at 20°C. The maximum data rate at 20ºC under non-return-to-zero on-off keying modulation was 23 Gb/s for a short-reach link based on single-mode fiber SMF-28. As the length of the optical link increased up to 2000 m, the maximum data rate dropped to 18 Gbit/s. The main factors affecting the high-speed operation and data transmission range are defined and discussed, and the further ways to overcome themit are proposed.