6 research outputs found
Design of plasma shutters for improved heavy ion acceleration by ultra-intense laser pulses
In this work, we investigate the application of the plasma shutters for heavy
ion acceleration driven by a high-intensity laser pulse. We use
particle-in-cell (PIC) and hydrodynamic simulations. The laser pulse,
transmitted through the opaque shutter, gains a steep-rising front and its peak
intensity is locally increased at the cost of losing part of its energy. These
effects have a direct influence on subsequent ion acceleration from the
ultrathin target behind the shutter. In our 3D simulations of silicon nitride
plasma shutter and a silver target, the maximal energy of high-Z ions increases
significantly when the shutter is included for both linearly and circularly
polarized laser pulses. Moreover, application of the plasma shutter for
linearly polarized pulse results in focusing of ions towards the laser axis in
the plane perpendicular to the laser polarization. The generated high energy
ion beam has significantly lower divergence compared to the broad ion cloud,
generated without the shutter. The effects of prepulses are also investigated
assuming a double plasma shutter. The first shutter can withstand the assumed
sub-ns prepulse (treatment of ns and ps prepulses by other techniques is
assumed) and the pulse shaping occursvia interaction with the second shutter.
On the basis of our theoretical findings, we formulated an approach towards
designing a double plasma shutter for high-intensity and high-power laser
pulses and built a prototype.Comment: 30 pages 13 figure
Exploring Raman spectroscopy for the evaluation of glaucomatous retinal changes
Glaucoma is a chronic neurodegenerative disease characterized by apoptosis of retinal ganglion cells and subsequent loss of visual function. Early detection of glaucoma is critical for the prevention of permanent structural damage and irreversible vision loss. Raman spectroscopy is a technique that provides rapid biochemical characterization of tissues in a nondestructive and noninvasive fashion. In this study, we explored the potential of using Raman spectroscopy for detection of glaucomatous changes in vitro. Raman spectroscopic imaging was conducted on retinal tissues of dogs with hereditary glaucoma and healthy control dogs. The Raman spectra were subjected to multivariate discriminant analysis with a support vector machine algorithm, and a classification model was developed to differentiate disease tissues versus healthy tissues. Spectroscopic analysis of 105 retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) from glaucomatous dogs and 267 RGCs from healthy dogs revealed spectroscopic markers that differentiated glaucomatous specimens from healthy controls. Furthermore, the multivariate discriminant model differentiated healthy samples and glaucomatous samples with good accuracy [healthy 89.5% and glaucomatous 97.6% for the same breed (Basset Hounds); and healthy 85.0% and glaucomatous 85.5% for different breeds (Beagles versus Basset Hounds)]. Raman spectroscopic screening can be used for in vitro detection of glaucomatous changes in retinal tissue with a high specificity.This article is from Journal of Biomedical Optics 16 (2011): 107006, doi:10.1117/1.3642010.</p
Functional and Structural Changes in a Canine Model of Hereditary Primary Angle-Closure Glaucoma
The principal purpose of this study was to describe a model of canine hereditary angle-closure glaucoma characterized by progressive increase in intraocular pressure, loss of optic nerve function, and retinal ganglion cell loss