Digital Holographic Microscopy of Phase Separation in Multicomponent Lipid Membranes

Lateral in-homogeneities in lipid compositions cause microdomains formation and change in the physical properties of biological membranes. With the presence of cholesterol and mixed species of lipids, phospholipid membranes segregate into lateral domains of liquid-ordered and liquid-disordered phases. Coupling of two-dimensional intralayer phase separations and interlayer liquid-crystalline ordering in multicomponent membranes has been previously demonstrated. By the use of digital holographic microscopy (DHMicroscopy), we quantitatively analyzed the volumetric dynamical behavior of such membranes. The specimens are lipid mixtures composed of sphingomyelin, cholesterol, and unsaturated phospholipid, 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine. DHMicroscopy in a transmission mode is an effective tool for quantitative visualization of phase objects. By deriving the associated phase changes, three-dimensional information on the morphology variation of lipid stacks at arbitrary time scales is obtained. Moreover, the thickness distribution of the object at demanded axial planes can be obtained by numerical focusing. Our results show that the volume evolution of lipid domains follows approximately the same universal growth law of previously reported area evolution. However, the thickness of the domains does not alter significantly by time; therefore, the volume evolution is mostly attributed to the changes in area dynamics. These results might be useful in the field of membrane-based functional materials

Application of irradiance transport equation in aspheric surface testing

A method for aspheric surface testing (AST) is presented in this paper. The method fundamentally draws on solving the irradiance transport equation (ITE). It is shown by simulation that the accuracy of ITE solution depends on proper selection of defocus distance and also demonstrate that the best defocus distance depends on peak to valley and spatial extend of phase distribution. (C) 2011 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved

Measurement of the atmospheric primary aberrations by a 4-aperture differential image motion monitor

The present paper investigates and discusses the ability of the Hartmann test with a 4-aperture differential image motion monitor (DIMM) to measure the atmospheric primary aberrations which, in turn, can be used for the calculation of the atmospheric coherence time. Through performing numerical simulations, we show that the 4-aperture DIMM is able to measure the defocus and astigmatism terms correctly whereas its results are not reliable for the coma. The most important limitations in the measurement of the primary aberrations by the 4-aperture DIMM are the centroid displacements of the spots which are caused by the higher order aberrations. This effect is negligible in the calculation of the defocus and astigmatisms, whereas it cannot be ignored in the calculation of the coma

Reconstructing the phase distribution of two Interfering wavefronts by analysis of their nonlocalized fringes with an iterative method

This paper presents a technique for reconstructing two interfering wavefronts by analyzing their 3D interference field pattern. The method is based on the numerical inverse problem and will present a robust algorithm for reconstructing of wavefronts. Several simulations are done to validate the proposed method. (C)2011 Optical Society of Americ

The Robotic Earthshine Telescope

Lund Observatory is presently designing and constructing a robotic telescope dedicated to studies of the Earth's albedo by measuring the ratio between the intensity of the dark and bright sides of the Moon. The telescope will operate both in broadband and narrow-band modes over the entire visible wavelength range and will transmit observational results back to the operation team over the Internet. Design challenges, in particular related to choice of CCD and stray light suppression, are described, together with the design of the optics, control system, and enclosure. Finally we present results from laboratory tests. The telescope will go into operation in the first half of 2011