Photothermal optical coherence tomography for investigation and imaging photothermal trapping of gold nano-rods in clear media and biological tissue

A quantitative spectrometer-based photothermal optical coherence tomography (PT-OCT) system is employed to investigate and image the photothermal trapping of gold nano-rods (GNRs) in clear and biological media. The PT-OCT system is calibrated through dynamic phase measurements of piezo motion with known driving parameters. We measure and compare the displacement sensitivities of the PT-OCT system at different camera exposure time settings in two configurations: with a distinct reference path; and with a common path. The displacement sensitivity of the system in the common path configuration is improved from 1.5 nm to 0.17 nm by performing Fourier analysis on the output phase. The minimum Ti:Sa power capable of inducing a detectable photothermal response of GNRs is measured to be 0.5 mW. This value agrees with the latest reported minimum Ti:Sa power for photothermal trapping GNRs. The PT-OCT system is used to generate en-face images of photothermal trapped GNRs in the water solution and in the biological tissue. By displaying the difference between successive en-face phase images, spatial distribution patterns of the aggregated GNRs, resulted from the photothermal trapping, are clearly outlined with great contrast. The photothermal trapping of GNRs in tissue shows a greater complexity than in the clear media. The limitation of the PT-OCT technology is discussed. The study proves the potential of PT-OCT for imaging the photothermal trapping of GNRs

Novel annular flow electromagnetic measurement system for drilling engineering

Downhole micro-flux control drilling technology can effectively solve drilling accidents, such as kick and loss in narrow density window drilling scenarios. Using a downhole annular flow measurement system to obtain real-time information of downhole annular flow is the core and foundation of downhole micro-flux control drilling technology. The research work of electromagnetic flowmeters in recent years creates a challenge for downhole annular flow measurement. This paper proposes a new method for an annular flow measurement system based on the electromagnetic induction principle. First, the annular flow measuring principle, the weight function, the density of virtual current, and the magnetic field of the annular flow electromagnetic measurement system are described. Second, the basic design of the annular flow electromagnetic measurement system is described. Third, model simulation and dynamic experiments on an annular flow electromagnetic measurement system are carried out. The simulation and experimental results show a linear relationship between the system output and the annular flow rate, and also verify the correctness of annular flow electromagnetic measurement theory

The Fokker-Planck equation for bistable potential in the optimized expansion

The optimized expansion is used to formulate a systematic approximation scheme to the probability distribution of a stochastic system. The first order approximation for the one-dimensional system driven by noise in an anharmonic potential is shown to agree well with the exact solution of the Fokker-Planck equation. Even for a bistable system the whole period of evolution to equilibrium is correctly described at various noise intensities.Comment: 12 pages, LATEX, 3 Postscript figures compressed an

Helium accumulation effects using bench marked 0-D model

Helium ash'' accumulation is a key issue relative to our ability to achieve a steady-state ignited tokamak. 1-D transport simulations using the BALDUR code have been used to examine the correlation between the global helium particle confinement time and the edge exhaust (or recycling) efficiency. This provides a way to benchmark the widely used 0-D model. In this paper, burn conditions for an ITER-like plasma with various helium edge recycling coefficients are examined

Universal relations in the finite-size correction terms of two-dimensional Ising models

Quite recently, Izmailian and Hu [Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 5160 (2001)] studied the finite-size correction terms for the free energy per spin and the inverse correlation length of the critical two-dimensional Ising model. They obtained the universal amplitude ratio for the coefficients of two series. In this study we give a simple derivation of this universal relation; we do not use an explicit form of series expansion. Moreover, we show that the Izmailian and Hu's relation is reduced to a simple and exact relation between the free energy and the correlation length. This equation holds at any temperature and has the same form as the finite-size scaling.Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX, to appear in Phys. Rev. E, Rapid Communication

Analysis of and workarounds for element reversal for a finite element-based algorithm for warping triangular and tetrahedral meshes

We consider an algorithm called FEMWARP for warping triangular and tetrahedral finite element meshes that computes the warping using the finite element method itself. The algorithm takes as input a two- or three-dimensional domain defined by a boundary mesh (segments in one dimension or triangles in two dimensions) that has a volume mesh (triangles in two dimensions or tetrahedra in three dimensions) in its interior. It also takes as input a prescribed movement of the boundary mesh. It computes as output updated positions of the vertices of the volume mesh. The first step of the algorithm is to determine from the initial mesh a set of local weights for each interior vertex that describes each interior vertex in terms of the positions of its neighbors. These weights are computed using a finite element stiffness matrix. After a boundary transformation is applied, a linear system of equations based upon the weights is solved to determine the final positions of the interior vertices. The FEMWARP algorithm has been considered in the previous literature (e.g., in a 2001 paper by Baker). FEMWARP has been succesful in computing deformed meshes for certain applications. However, sometimes FEMWARP reverses elements; this is our main concern in this paper. We analyze the causes for this undesirable behavior and propose several techniques to make the method more robust against reversals. The most successful of the proposed methods includes combining FEMWARP with an optimization-based untangler.Comment: Revision of earlier version of paper. Submitted for publication in BIT Numerical Mathematics on 27 April 2010. Accepted for publication on 7 September 2010. Published online on 9 October 2010. The final publication is available at http://www.springerlink.co

Notes on entropic characteristics of quantum channels

One of most important issues in quantum information theory concerns transmission of information through noisy quantum channels. We discuss few channel characteristics expressed by means of generalized entropies. Such characteristics can often be dealt in line with more usual treatment based on the von Neumann entropies. For any channel, we show that the $q$-average output entropy of degree $q\geq1$ is bounded from above by the $q$-entropy of the input density matrix. Concavity properties of the $(q,s)$-entropy exchange are considered. Fano type quantum bounds on the $(q,s)$-entropy exchange are derived. We also give upper bounds on the map $(q,s)$-entropies in terms of the output entropy, corresponding to the completely mixed input.Comment: 10 pages, no figures. The statement of Proposition 1 is explicitly illustrated with the depolarizing channel. The bibliography is extended and updated. More explanations. To be published in Cent. Eur. J. Phy

Operator renewal theory and mixing rates for dynamical systems with infinite measure

We develop a theory of operator renewal sequences in the context of infinite ergodic theory. For large classes of dynamical systems preserving an infinite measure, we determine the asymptotic behaviour of iterates $L^n$ of the transfer operator. This was previously an intractable problem. Examples of systems covered by our results include (i) parabolic rational maps of the complex plane and (ii) (not necessarily Markovian) nonuniformly expanding interval maps with indifferent fixed points. In addition, we give a particularly simple proof of pointwise dual ergodicity (asymptotic behaviour of $\sum_{j=1}^nL^j$) for the class of systems under consideration. In certain situations, including Pomeau-Manneville intermittency maps, we obtain higher order expansions for $L^n$ and rates of mixing. Also, we obtain error estimates in the associated Dynkin-Lamperti arcsine laws.Comment: Preprint, August 2010. Revised August 2011. After publication, a minor error was pointed out by Kautzsch et al, arXiv:1404.5857. The updated version includes minor corrections in Sections 10 and 11, and corresponding modifications of certain statements in Section 1. All main results are unaffected. In particular, Sections 2-9 are unchanged from the published versio