Enhanced Two-Photon Absorption in a Hollow-Core Photonic Bandgap Fiber

We show that two-photon absorption (TPA) in Rubidium atoms can be greatly enhanced by the use of a hollow-core photonic bandgap fiber. We investigate off-resonant, degenerate Doppler-free TPA on the 5S1/2 - 5D5/2 transition and observe 1% absorption of a pump beam with a total power of only 1 mW in the fiber. These results are verified by measuring the amount of emitted blue fluorescence and are consistent with the theoretical predictions which indicate that transit time effects play an important role in determining the two-photon absorption cross-section in a confined geometry.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure

Zeeman Relaxation of Cold Atomic Iron and Nickel in Collisions with 3He

We have measured the ratio of the diffusion cross-section to the angular momentum reorientation cross-section in the colliding Fe-3He and Ni-3He systems. Nickel (Ni) and iron (Fe) atoms are introduced via laser ablation into a cryogenically cooled experimental cell containing cold (< 1 K) 3He buffer gas. Elastic collisions rapidly cool the translational temperature of the ablated atoms to the helium temperature. The cross-section ratio is extracted by measuring the decays of the atomic Zeeman sublevels. For our experimental conditions, thermal energy is comparable to the Zeeman splitting. As a result, thermal excitations between Zeeman sublevels significantly impact the observed decay. To determine the cross-section ratio accurately, we introduce a model of Zeeman state dynamics that includes thermal excitations. We find the cross-section ratio for Ni-3He = 5 x 10^3 and Fe-3He <= 3 x 10^3 at 0.75 K in a 0.8 T magnetic field. These measurements are interpreted in the context of submerged shell suppression of spin relaxation as studied previously in transition metals and rare earth atoms.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures; submitted to Phys. Rev.

Optical pumping via incoherent Raman transitions

A new optical pumping scheme is presented that uses incoherent Raman transitions to prepare a trapped Cesium atom in a specific Zeeman state within the 6S_{1/2}, F=3 hyperfine manifold. An important advantage of this scheme over existing optical pumping schemes is that the atom can be prepared in any of the F=3 Zeeman states. We demonstrate the scheme in the context of cavity quantum electrodynamics, but the technique is equally applicable to a wide variety of atomic systems with hyperfine ground-state structure.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

Measurement of the quadratic Zeeman shift of ^{85}Rb hyperfine sublevels using stimulated Raman transitions

We demonstrate a technique for directly measuring the quadratic Zeeman shift using stimulated Raman transitions.The quadratic Zeeman shift has been measured yielding [delta][nju] = 1296.8 +/-3.3 Hz/G^{2} for magnetically insensitive sublevels (5S1/2, F = 2,mF = 0 -> 5S1/2, F = 3,mF = 0) of ^{85}Rb by compensating the magnetic eld and cancelling the ac Stark shift. We also measured the cancellation ratio of the differential ac Stark shift due to the imbalanced Raman beams by using two pairs of Raman beams ([sigma]^{+}, [sigma]^{+}) and it is 1:3.67 when the one-photon detuning is 1.5 GHz in the experiment

Differential expression of DHHC9 in microsatellite stable and instable human colorectal cancer subgroups

Microarray analysis on pooled samples has previously identified ZDHHC9 (DHHC9) to be upregulated in colon adenocarcinoma compared to normal colon mucosa. Analyses of 168 samples from proximal and distal adenocarcinomas using U133plus2.0 microarrays validated these findings, showing a significant two-fold (log 2) upregulation of DHHC9 transcript (P<10(−6)). The upregulation was more striking in microsatellite stable (MSS), than in microsatellite instable (MSI), tumours. Genes known to interact with DHHC9 as H-Ras or N-Ras did not show expression differences between MSS and MSI. Immunohistochemical analysis was performed on 60 colon adenocarcinomas, previously analysed on microarrays, as well as on tissue microarrays with 40 stage I–IV tumours and 46 tumours from different organ sites. DHHC9 protein was strongly expressed in MSS compared to MSI tumours, readily detectable in premalignant lesions, compared to the rare expression seen in normal mucosa. DHHC9 was specific for tumours of the gastrointestinal tract and localised to the Golgi apparatus, in vitro and in vivo. Overexpression of DHHC9 decreased the proliferation of SW480 and CaCo2 MSS cell lines significantly. In conclusion, DHHC9 is a gastrointestinal-related protein highly expressed in MSS colon tumours. The palmitoyl transferase activity, modifying N-Ras and H-Ras, suggests DHHC9 as a target for anticancer drug design

Tumour invasiveness, the local and systemic environment and the basis of staging systems in colorectal cancer

background: The present study aimed to examine the relationship between tumour invasiveness (T stage), the local and systemic environment and cancer-specific survival (CSS) of patients with primary operable colorectal cancer. methods: The tumour microenvironment was examined using measures of the inflammatory infiltrate (Klintrup-Makinen (KM) grade and Immunoscore), tumour stroma percentage (TSP) and tumour budding. The systemic inflammatory environment was examined using modified Glasgow Prognostic Score (mGPS) and neutrophil:lymphocyte ratio (NLR). A 5-year CSS was examined. results: A total of 331 patients were included. Increasing T stage was associated with colonic primary, N stage, poor differentiation, margin involvement and venous invasion (P&lt;0.05). T stage was significantly associated with KM grade (P=0.001), Immunoscore (P=0.016), TSP (P=0.006), tumour budding (P&lt;0.001), and elevated mGPS and NLR (both P&lt;0.05). In patients with T3 cancer, N stage stratified survival from 88 to 64%, whereas Immunoscore and budding stratified survival from 100 to 70% and from 91 to 56%, respectively. The Glasgow Microenvironment Score, a score based on KM grade and TSP, stratified survival from 93 to 58%. conclusions: Although associated with increasing T stage, local and systemic tumour environment characteristics, and in particular Immunoscore, budding, TSP and mGPS, are stage-independent determinants of survival and may be utilised in the staging of patients with primary operable colorectal cancer

Sub-Doppler spectroscopy of Rb atoms in a sub-micron vapor cell in the presence of a magnetic field

We report the first use of an extremely thin vapor cell (thickness ~ 400 nm) to study the magnetic-field dependence of laser-induced-fluorescence excitation spectra of alkali atoms. This thin cell allows for sub-Doppler resolution without the complexity of atomic beam or laser cooling techniques. This technique is used to study the laser-induced-fluorescence excitation spectra of Rb in a 50 G magnetic field. At this field strength the electronic angular momentum J and nuclear angular momentum I are only partially decoupled. As a result of the mixing of wavefunctions of different hyperfine states, we observe a nonlinear Zeeman effect for each sublevel, a substantial modification of the transition probabilities between different magnetic sublevels, and the appearance of transitions that are strictly forbidden in the absence of the magnetic field. For the case of right- and left- handed circularly polarized laser excitation, the fluorescence spectra differs qualitatively. Well pronounced magnetic field induced circular dichroism is observed. These observations are explained with a standard approach that describes the partial decoupling of I and J states

Molecular staging estimates occult tumor burden in colorectal cancer

Tumor cells in regional lymph nodes are a key prognostic marker of survival and predictive marker of response to adjuvant chemotherapy in colorectal cancer. However, clinicopathologic techniques to detect lymph node metastases remain imperfect, and ~30% of patients with lymph nodes negative by histology (pN0) develop recurrent disease, reflecting occult metastases that escape detection. These observations underscore an unmet clinical need for accurate approaches to identify occult nodal metastases in colorectal cancer patients. GUCY2C is a receptor whose expression normally is restricted to intestinal epithelial cells, but is universally over-expressed by colorectal cancer cells. A prospective, multicenter, blinded clinical trial established the prognostic utility of GUCY2C qRT-PCR to detect occult nodal metastases in pN0 colorectal cancer patients. Molecular staging revealed that ~13% of pN0 patients were free of cancer cells, while ~87% had GUCY2C results that suggested occult metastases. The presence of occult nodal metastases was the most powerful independent predictor of time to recurrence and disease-free survival. These observations establish the utility of molecular detection of occult nodal metastases for assessing prognostic risk in pN0 colorectal cancer patients. Advancing GUCY2C into staging paradigms in clinical laboratories will require validation in independent patient populations, definition of the relationship between the quantity of occult tumor metastases and risk, and determination of the utility of GUCY2C qRT-PCR to identify pN0 patients who might benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy

Coherent Dual Comb Spectroscopy at High Signal to Noise

Two frequency combs can be used to measure the full complex response of a sample in a configuration which can be alternatively viewed as the equivalent of a dispersive Fourier transform spectrometer, infrared time domain spectrometer, or a multiheterodyne laser spectrometer. This dual comb spectrometer retains the frequency accuracy and resolution inherent to the comb sources. We discuss, in detail, the specific design of our coherent dual-comb spectrometer and demonstrate the potential of this technique by measuring the first overtone vibration of hydrogen cyanide, centered at 194 THz (1545 nm). We measure the fully normalized, complex response of the gas over a 9 THz bandwidth at 220 MHz frequency resolution yielding 41,000 resolution elements. The average spectral signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is 2,500 for both the fractional absorption and the phase, with a peak SNR of 4,000 corresponding to a fractional absorption sensitivity of 0.025% and phase sensitivity of 250 microradians. As the spectral coverage of combs expands, this dual-comb spectroscopy could provide high frequency accuracy and resolution measurements of a complex sample response across a range of spectral regions.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures updated references, updated to match publication versio

Electromagnetically induced transparency controlled by a microwave field

We have experimentally studied propagation of two optical fields in a dense rubidium (Rb) vapor in the case when an additional microwave field is coupled to the hyperfine levels of Rb atoms. The Rb energy levels form a close-lambda three-level system coupled to the optical fields and the microwave field. It has been found that the maximum transmission of a probe field depends on the relative phase between the optical and the microwave fields. We have observed both constructive and destructive interference in electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). A simple theoretical model and a numerical simulation have been developed to explain the observed experimental results.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure