Universality in Intensity Modulated Photocurrent in Bulk-Heterojunction Polymer Solar Cells

We observe a universal feature in the frequency dependence of intensity modulated photocurrent Iph based on studies of a variety of efficient bulk-heterojunction polymer solar cells (BHJ-PSCs). This feature of Iph appears in the form of a local maximum in the 5 kHz < frequency < 10 kHz range and is observed to be largely independent of the external parameters such as modulated light intensity (Lac), wavelength, temperature (T), and external field (EF) over a wide range. Simplistic kinetic models involving carrier generation, recombination and extraction processes are used to interpret the overall essential features of Iph and correlate it to the device parameters

Improved Approximation Algorithms for Segment Minimization in Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy

he segment minimization problem consists of finding the smallest set of integer matrices that sum to a given intensity matrix, such that each summand has only one non-zero value, and the non-zeroes in each row are consecutive. This has direct applications in intensity-modulated radiation therapy, an effective form of cancer treatment. We develop three approximation algorithms for matrices with arbitrarily many rows. Our first two algorithms improve the approximation factor from the previous best of $1+\log_2 h$ to (roughly) $3/2 \cdot (1+\log_3 h)$ and $11/6\cdot(1+\log_4{h})$, respectively, where $h$ is the largest entry in the intensity matrix. We illustrate the limitations of the specific approach used to obtain these two algorithms by proving a lower bound of $\frac{(2b-2)}{b}\cdot\log_b{h} + \frac{1}{b}$ on the approximation guarantee. Our third algorithm improves the approximation factor from $2 \cdot (\log D+1)$ to $24/13 \cdot (\log D+1)$, where $D$ is (roughly) the largest difference between consecutive elements of a row of the intensity matrix. Finally, experimentation with these algorithms shows that they perform well with respect to the optimum and outperform other approximation algorithms on 77% of the 122 test cases we consider, which include both real world and synthetic data.Comment: 18 page

Data sets of very large linear feasibility problems solved by projection methods

We give a link to a page on the Web on which we deposited a set of eight huge Linear Programming (LP) problems for Intensity-Modulated Proton Therapy (IMPT) treatment planning. These huge LP problems were employed in our recent research and we were asked to make them public.Comment: 4 pages, 1 tabl

A Two-Dimensional Signal Space for Intensity-Modulated Channels

A two-dimensional signal space for intensity- modulated channels is presented. Modulation formats using this signal space are designed to maximize the minimum distance between signal points while satisfying average and peak power constraints. The uncoded, high-signal-to-noise ratio, power and spectral efficiencies are compared to those of the best known formats. The new formats are simpler than existing subcarrier formats, and are superior if the bandwidth is measured as 90% in-band power. Existing subcarrier formats are better if the bandwidth is measured as 99% in-band power.Comment: Submitted to IEEE Communications Letters, Feb. 201

Beam Orientation Optimization for Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy using Adaptive l1 Minimization

Beam orientation optimization (BOO) is a key component in the process of IMRT treatment planning. It determines to what degree one can achieve a good treatment plan quality in the subsequent plan optimization process. In this paper, we have developed a BOO algorithm via adaptive l_1 minimization. Specifically, we introduce a sparsity energy function term into our model which contains weighting factors for each beam angle adaptively adjusted during the optimization process. Such an energy term favors small number of beam angles. By optimizing a total energy function containing a dosimetric term and the sparsity term, we are able to identify the unimportant beam angles and gradually remove them without largely sacrificing the dosimetric objective. In one typical prostate case, the convergence property of our algorithm, as well as the how the beam angles are selected during the optimization process, is demonstrated. Fluence map optimization (FMO) is then performed based on the optimized beam angles. The resulted plan quality is presented and found to be better than that obtained from unoptimized (equiangular) beam orientations. We have further systematically validated our algorithm in the contexts of 5-9 coplanar beams for 5 prostate cases and 1 head and neck case. For each case, the final FMO objective function value is used to compare the optimized beam orientations and the equiangular ones. It is found that, our BOO algorithm can lead to beam configurations which attain lower FMO objective function values than corresponding equiangular cases, indicating the effectiveness of our BOO algorithm.Comment: 19 pages, 2 tables, and 5 figure