Clinical Profile of Dengue Infection in Patients with Hematological Diseases

Managing hematological disorders in a tropical country presents several unique diagnostic and management problems. Apart from the disease process, we need to be aware of infections that can exacerbate or mimic serious hematological problems. We present here a series of five patients with pre-existing hematological diseases who were infected by dengue virus. These cases highlight the need to keep a strong suspicion of common endemic diseases in tropical countries before considering extensive workup for the basic hematological disease. There was no mortality and all patients recovered without any significant impact on their pre-existing hematological condition inspite of their low baseline blood counts. There was no excessive bleeding, prolonged stay in the hospital or relapse of underlying hematological disease in these patients and the only major concern was the increased anxiety among both the patient and treating physician regarding the relapse/progression of pre-existing hematological disease

Lineshape engineering of whispering gallery modes using a photonic molecule

Photonic molecules (coupled cavities) are of immense interest due to their applications in sensing, single-mode lasing and cavity quantum electrodynamics. In this work, a photonic molecule, made of two coupled microspheres, has been used to vary the lineshape of the cavity modes. This has been executed by varying the inter-cavity distance (or coupling strength). Fano/electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) type modes have been observed to evolve with the coupling strength varied

The influence of metal nanoparticles on whispering gallery modes of a microcavity

Photonic microcavities offer high energy density and low mode volume and attract special attention due to wide range of applications. Subsequent developments in the area of plasmonic nanocavities have also opened up applications despite their high absorptive properties. In the last two decades, photonic-plasmonic hybrid microcavities have been investigated extensively. In this article, we have conducted a review of the literature on photonic and plasmonic systems individually as well as in hybrid systems. Along with the underlying physics, applications such as cavity quantum electrodynamics, lasing, sensing, nonlinear optics and Raman spectroscopy have been reviewed. The outputs of the systems for each applications have been discussed and compared for photonic and hybrid systems. This review will provide a thorough understanding of the effects of optical cavities and plasmonics and their applications

Hybrid system of different shapes of gold nanoparticles on microcavity to study Purcell's effect

Whispering gallery modes (WGMs) occur due to total internal reflection in symmetric dielectric structures. These modes have high quality (Q) factor and low mode volume (Veff). Photoluminescence (PL) of an emitter when coupled with WGMs leads to the modification in the radiative rate of the emitter. This effect on the radiative rate is known as Purcell effect. Purcell factor (FP) is proportional to Q/Veff of the cavity. Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of metal nanoparticles (NPs) can be used along with the WGMs of the microcavity to have a combined LSPR-WGM hybrid system. LSPR depends on the shape and size of the NPs which can affect FP of the microcavity. In this work, we report the effect of octopod and octahedral shaped gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) on the radiative rate of rhodamine B (RB) doped microspheres. FP values of smaller than unity have been observed indicating the inhibition of the radiative rate in the microcavity.</p

Cavity modes modulation using photonic molecules

Interaction of whispering gallery modes (WGMs) in two coupled microcavities, referred to as a photonic molecule, was investigated experimentally. The study involved a systematic examination of the modes of the coupled cavities by manipulating the cavity gain coefficients and coupling strength. The cavity gain coefficients were adjusted by using dye-doped and un-doped microcavities, while the coupling strength was varied by altering the separation between the microcavities. The resulting observations include splitting and merging of the eigenmode frequencies. These experimental findings were corroborated by the predictions of an extended coupled mode theory (CMT) and numerical simulations. Additionally, it was discovered that coupled microcavities offer advantages over single cavities in certain applications where tunability of cavity modes is required