Phase-locked photon-electron interaction without a laser

Ultrafast electron-photon spectroscopy in electron microscopes commonly requires ultrafast laser setups. Photoemission from an engineered electron source is used to generate pulsed electrons, interacting with a sample that is excited by the ultrafast laser pulse at a specified time delay. Thus, developing an ultrafast electron microscope demands the exploitation of extrinsic laser excitations and complex synchronization schemes. Here, we present an inverse approach based on cathodoluminescence spectroscopy to introduce internal radiation sources in an electron microscope. Our method is based on a sequential interaction of the electron beam with an electron-driven photon source (EDPHS) and the investigated sample. An electron-driven photon source in an electron microscope generates phase-locked photons that are mutually coherent with the near-field distribution of the swift electron. Due to their different velocities, one can readily change the delay between the photons and electrons arriving at the sample by changing the distance between the EDPHS and the sample. We demonstrate the mutual coherence between the radiations from the EDPHS and the sample by performing interferometry with a combined system of an EDPHS and a WSe2 flake. We assert the mutual frequency and momentum-dependent correlation of the EDPHS and sample radiation, and determine experimentally the degree of mutual coherence of up to 27%. This level of mutual coherence allows us to perform spectral interferometry with an electron microscope. Our method has the advantage of being simple, compact and operating with continuous electron beams. It will open the door to local electron-photon correlation spectroscopy of quantum materials, single photon systems, and coherent exciton-polaritonic samples with nanometric resolution

Tailoring enhanced optical chirality : design principles for chiral plasmonic nanostructures

Electromagnetic fields with strong optical chirality can be formed in the near-field of chiral plasmonic nanostructures. We calculate and visualize the degree of chirality to identify regions with relatively high values. This leads to design principles for a simple utilization of chiral fields. We investigate planar geometries which offer a convenient way to access the designated fields as well as three-dimensional nanostructures which show a very high local optical chirality

On the statistics of area size in two-dimensional thick Voronoi Diagrams

Cells of Voronoi diagrams in two dimensions are usually considered as having edges of zero width. However, this is not the case in several experimental situations in which the thickness of the edges of the cells is relatively large. In this paper, the concept of a thick Voronoi tessellation, that is with edges of non-zero width, is introduced and the the statistics of cell areas, as thickness changes, are analyzed.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figure

Quasi-Babinet principle in dielectric resonators and Mie voids

Advancing resonant nanophotonics requires novel building blocks. Recently, cavities in high-index dielectrics have been shown to resonantly confine light inside a lower-index region. These so-called Mie voids represent a counterpart to solid high-index dielectric Mie resonators, offering novel functionality such as resonant behavior in the ultraviolet spectral region. However, the well-known and highly useful Babinet's principle, which relates the scattering of solid and inverse structures, is not strictly applicable for this dielectric case as it is only valid for infinitesimally thin perfect electric conductors. Here, we show that Babinet's principle can be generalized to dielectric systems within certain boundaries, which we refer to as the quasi-Babinet principle and demonstrate for spherical and more generically shaped Mie resonators. Limitations arise due to geometry-dependent terms as well as material frequency dispersion and losses. Thus, our work not only offers deeper physical insight into the working mechanism of these systems but also establishes simple design rules for constructing dielectric resonators with complex functionalities from their complementary counterparts.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Adaptive method for quantitative estimation of glucose and fructose concentrations in aqueous solutions based on infrared nanoantenna optics

In life science and health research one observes a continuous need for new concepts and methods to detect and quantify the presence and concentration of certain biomolecules-preferably even in vivo or aqueous solutions. One prominent example, among many others, is the blood glucose level, which is highly important in the treatment of, e.g., diabetes mellitus. Detecting and, in particular, quantifying the amount of such molecular species in a complex sensing environment, such as human body fluids, constitutes a significant challenge. Surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA) spectroscopy has proven to be uniquely able to differentiate even very similar molecular species in very small concentrations. We are thus employing SEIRA to gather the vibrational response of aqueous glucose and fructose solutions in the mid-infrared spectral range with varying concentration levels down to 10 g/l. In contrast to previous work, we further demonstrate that it is possible to not only extract the presence of the analyte molecules but to determine the quantitative concentrations in a reliable and automated way. For this, a baseline correction method is applied to pre-process the measurement data in order to extract the characteristic vibrational information. Afterwards, a set of basis functions is fitted to capture the characteristic features of the two examined monosaccharides and a potential contribution of the solvent itself. The reconstruction of the actual concentration levels is then performed by superposition of the different basis functions to approximate the measured data. This software-based enhancement of the employed optical sensors leads to an accurate quantitative estimate of glucose and fructose concentrations in aqueous solutions

Plasmonic Metasurface Resonators to Enhance Terahertz Magnetic Fields for High-Frequency Electron Paramagnetic Resonance

Nanoscale magnetic systems play a decisive role in areas ranging from biology to spintronics. Although, in principle, THz electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) provides high-resolution access to their properties, lack of sensitivity has precluded realizing this potential. To resolve this issue, the principle of plasmonic enhancement of electromagnetic fields that is used in electric dipole spectroscopies with great success is exploited, and a new type of resonators for the enhancement of THz magnetic fields in a microscopic volume is proposed. A resonator composed of an array of diabolo antennas with a back-reflecting mirror is designed and fabricated. Simulations and THz EPR measurements demonstrate a 30-fold signal increase for thin film samples. This enhancement factor increases to a theoretical value of 7500 for samples confined to the active region of the antennas. These findings open the door to the elucidation of fundamental processes in nanoscale samples, including junctions in spintronic devices or biological membranes

Genome-wide association and functional follow-up reveals new loci for kidney function

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is an important public health problem with a genetic component. We performed genome-wide association studies in up to 130,600 European ancestry participants overall, and stratified for key CKD risk factors. We uncovered 6 new loci in association with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), the primary clinical measure of CKD, in or near MPPED2, DDX1, SLC47A1, CDK12, CASP9, and INO80. Morpholino knockdown of mpped2 and casp9 in zebrafish embryos revealed podocyte and tubular abnormalities with altered dextran clearance, suggesting a role for these genes in renal function. By providing new insights into genes that regulate renal function, these results could further our understanding of the pathogenesis of CKD

TRY plant trait database – enhanced coverage and open access

Plant traits - the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants - determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait‐based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits - almost complete coverage for ‘plant growth form’. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait–environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives