This work presents the results by irradiating fresh Portland cement pastes with CO₂ laser, at powers of 1.6, 2.0, and 2.4 W, at different water‐to‐cement (w/c) ratios 0.4, 0.45, and 0.5. Raman spectra show the evolution and accelerated growth of the main hydration products through the intensity changes of the Raman signal. The Raman shifts reveal that the C‐S‐H, CH, AFt, and CaCO₃ bands are detected in a shorter time, which means that the setting times are also reduced. The detected band of calcium carbonate, which is due to the incorporation of limestone during the grinding process, shows that it is responsible largely for the acceleration in the reactions during the hydration of the cement. The Raman signals of the hydration products of nonirradiated cement pastes present a delay in their evolution with respect to the irradiated pastes. The curves obtained from the Raman spectra can be used to model the mechanism of hydration as well as to understand the setting process.

This article presents the modeling and fabrication of photonic devices such as a Mach-Zehnder waveguide interferometer (MZWI) and a 1 × 4 optical power splitter (OPS) with a microfluidic channel. The photonic structures were designed using CAD software and BeamPROPTM to have an s-shaped waveguide bend geometry and a total length of 8000 μm, and the devices were then integrated with a 6000 μm microfluidic channel to form configurations based on conical spirals and helices with femtosecond laser radiation. The entire writing process was performed in a single step with a 20X microscope objective to achieve greater accuracy in the manufacturing process. A chemical etching step was performed using the shape-controlled with femtosecond laser irradiation followed by chemical etching (SC-FLICE) technique, forming a uniform cross-section in the central part of the microfluidic channel. The energy doses and translation speeds of the system were varied, resulting in a longer microfluidic channel. However, this work was limited to the design and development of the prototype due to the project objectives and limited resources. In this research, we introduce an optofluidic system which integrates the principles of optics and microfluidics, is suitable for biosensing applications. The compatibility of this system with biosensing applications paves the way for significant progress in various sectors, including medical diagnostics, environmental surveillance, and biochemical studies. The originality and value of this work lie in its unique design and potential for broad application. The present work, it was demonstrated that using ultrafast laser writing, we can fabricate photonic devices and a consistent microfluidic channel on a single step.

In this work we analyze the lime saturation module for different clay settings of raw material after raw grinding process by means of a multiwavelength Raman spectroscopy study, at excitation wavelengths of 450, 532, 633 and 780 nm. The data reveal that independently of the wavelength used, the results of the Raman shifts can be used to calculate the setpoint for controlling the alumina in the raw mix that needs to be adjusted to have the lime saturation within quality parameters, with a minimum variation compared with other techniques such as XRF and XRD, thus ensuring that the Clinker phases are formed under quality standards. The intensity ratios of Raman spectra were used to calculate LS values which were close to those obtained with the XRF technique. Therefore, this measurement approach can be used successfully as an effective and alternative non-destructive method to determine the LS of cement raw mix.