Hybrid Plasmonics Slot THz Waveguide for Subwavelength Field Confinement and Crosstalk between Two Waveguides

The slot waveguide has attracted considerable attention because of its ability to confine and guide electromagnetic energy at the subwavelength scale beyond the diffraction limit. We propose a novel terahertz slot waveguide structure to achieve a better tradeoff between propagation length and field confinement capacity, the novel waveguide consisting of a two slot structure. The performances of terahertz waveguides were investigated using the finite-element method. The results demonstrated that the hybrid slot waveguide (HSW) provides significantly enhanced field confinement in low index slot regions: more than five times that of traditional low index slot waveguides (LISWs). An optimized HSW structure was achieved by tuning the tradeoff between mode confinement and propagation length. We also showed that its integration in conventional planar waveguide circuits was greatly improved compared with the LISWs, by comparing their crosstalk. The proposed new HSW structure has great potential to enable THz production of compact integration and could lead to true semiconductor-basedTHz applications with high performance.Electronic Components, Technology and Material

A CMOS-Compatible Hybrid Plasmonic Slot Waveguide With Enhanced Field Confinement

The emerging field of nanophotonics requires plasmonic devices to be fully compatible with semiconductor fabrication techniques. However, very few feasible practical structures exist at present. Here, we propose a CMOS-compatible hybrid plasmonic slot waveguide (HPSW) with enhanced field confinement. Our simulation results show that the HPSW exhibits significantly enhanced field confinement as compared with the traditional low-index slot waveguides and the hybrid metal dielectric slot waveguides. By controlling the thicknesses of different layers, an optimized HPSW structure with a better tradeoff between field confinement and propagation length has been simultaneously achieved.Electronic Components, Technology and Material

Numerical thermal analysis and optimization of multi-chip LED module using response surface methodology and genetic algorithm

In this paper, the heat transfer performance of the multi-chip (MC) LED module is investigated numerically by using a general analytical solution. The configuration of the module is optimized with genetic algorithm (GA) combined with a response surface methodology. The space between chips, the thickness of the metal core printed circuit board (MCPCB), and the thickness of the base plate are considered as three optimal parameters, while the total thermal resistance (Rtot) is considered as a single objective function. After optimizing objectives with GA, the optimal design parameters of three types of MC LED modules are determined. The results show that the thickness of MCPCB has a stronger influence on the total thermal resistance than other parameters. In addition, the sensitivity analysis is performed based on the optimum data. It reveals thatRtot increases with the increased thickness of MCPCB, and reduces as the space between chips increases. The effect of the thickness of base plate is far less than that of the thickness of MCPCB. After optimization, three types of MC LED modules obtain lower Tj andRtot. Moreover, the optimized modules can emit large luminous energy under high-power input conditions. Therefore, the optimization results are of great significance in the selection of configuration parameters to improve the performance of the MC LED module.Electronic Components, Technology and Material

Higher antiviral response of RIG-I through enhancing RIG-I/MAVS-mediated signaling by its long insertion variant in zebrafish

As an intracellular pattern recognition receptor (PRR), the retinoic acid-inducible gene-I (RIG-I) is responsible for the recognition of cytosolic viral nucleic acids and the production of type I interferons (IFNs). In the present study, an insertion variant of RIG-I with 38 amino acids inserted in the N-terminal CARD2 domain, as well as the typical type, named as RIG-Ia and RIG-Ib respectively were identified in zebrafish. RIG-la and RIG-Ib were all up-regulated following the infection of a negative ssRNA virus, the Spring Viremia of Carp Virus (SVCV), and an intracellular Gram-negative bacterial pathogen Edwardsiella tarda, indicating the RLR may have a role in the recognition of both viruses and bacteria. The overexpression of RIG-Ib in cultured fish cells resulted in significant increase in type I IFN promoter activity, and in protection against SVCV infection, whereas the over-expression of RIG-Ia had no direct effect on IFN activation nor antiviral response. Furthermore, it was revealed that both RIG-Ia and RIG-Ib were associated with the downstream molecular mitochondrial antiviral signaling protein, MAVS, and interestingly RIG-Ia when co-transfected with RIG-Ib or MAVS, induced a significantly higher level of type IFN promoter activity and the expression level of Mx and IRF7, implying that the RIG-la may function as an enhancer in the RIG-Ib/MAVS-mediated signaling pathway. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Proteome Microarray for Global Studies of Protein Function and Immunogenicity

SummaryPoor understanding of the basic biology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), the etiological agent of tuberculosis, hampers development of much-needed drugs, vaccines, and diagnostic tests. Better experimental tools are needed to expedite investigations of this pathogen at the systems level. Here, we present a functional MTB proteome microarray covering most of the proteome and an ORFome library. We demonstrate the broad applicability of the microarray by investigating global protein-protein interactions, small-molecule-protein binding, and serum biomarker discovery, identifying 59 PknG-interacting proteins, 30 bis-(3′-5′)-cyclic dimeric guanosine monophosphate (c-di-GMP) binding proteins, and 14 MTB proteins that together differentiate between tuberculosis (TB) patients with active disease and recovered individuals. Results suggest that the MTB rhamnose pathway is likely regulated by both the serine/threonine kinase PknG and c-di-GMP. This resource has the potential to generate a greater understanding of key biological processes in the pathogenesis of tuberculosis, possibly leading to more effective therapies for the treatment of this ancient disease