390 research outputs found
Spatial Modulation Microscopy for Real-Time Imaging of Plasmonic Nanoparticles and Cells
Spatial modulation microscopy is a technique originally developed for
quantitative spectroscopy of individual nano-objects. Here, a parallel
implementation of the spatial modulation microscopy technique is demonstrated
based on a line detector capable of demodulation at kHz frequencies. The
capabilities of the imaging system are shown using an array of plasmonic
nanoantennas and dendritic cells incubated with gold nanoparticles.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figure
Optical transmission matrix as a probe of the photonic interaction strength
We demonstrate that optical transmission matrices (TM) of disordered complex media provide a powerful tool to extract the photonic interaction strength, independent of surface effects. We measure TM of strongly scattering GaP nanowires and plot the singular value density of the measured matrices and a random matrix model. By varying the free parameters of the model, the transport mean free path and effective refractive index, we retrieve the photonic interaction strength. From numerical simulations we conclude that TM statistics is hardly sensitive to surface effects, in contrast to enhanced backscattering or total transmission based methods
Optical transmission matrix as a probe of the photonic strength
We demonstrate that optical transmission matrices (TM) of disordered complex media provide a powerful tool to extract the photonic interaction strength, independent of surface effects. We measure TM of strongly scattering GaP nanowires and plot the singular value density of the measured matrices and a random matrix model. By varying the free parameters of the model, the transport mean free path and effective refractive index, we retrieve the photonic interaction strength. From numerical simulations we conclude that TM statistics is hardly sensitive to surface effects, in contrast to enhanced backscattering or total transmission based methods.We acknowledge support from ERC grant 27948, NWOVici, STW, the Royal Society, and EPSRC through fellowship EP/J016918/1
Giant optical birefringence of semiconductor nanowire metamaterials
Semiconductor nanowires exhibit large polarization anisotropy for the
absorption and emission of light, making them ideal building blocks for novel
photonic metamaterials. Here, we demonstrate that a high density of aligned
nanowires exhibits giant optical birefringence, a collective phenomenon
observable uniquely for collections of wires. The nanowire material was grown
on gallium phosphide (GaP) (111) in the form of vertically standing GaP
nanowires. We obtain the largest optical birefringence to date, with a
difference between the in-plane and out-of-plane refractive indices of 0.80 and
a relative birefringence of 43%. These values exceed by a factor of 75 the
natural birefringence of quartz and a by more than a factor of two the highest
values reported so far in other artificial materials. By exploiting the
specific crystallographic growth directions of the nanowires on the substrate,
we further demonstrate full control over the orientation of the optical
birefringence effect in the metamaterial.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure
Agents for fluorescence-guided glioma surgery: a systematic review of preclinical and clinical results
Background: Fluorescence-guided surgery (FGS) is a technique used to enhance visualization of tumor margins in order to increase the extent of tumor resection in glioma surgery. In this paper, we systematically review all clinically tested fluorescent agents for application in FGS for glioma and all preclinically tested agents with the potential for FGS for glioma. Methods: We searched the PubMed and Embase databases for all potentially relevant studies through March 2016. We assessed fluorescent agents by the following outcomes: rate of gross total resection (GTR), overall and progression-free survival, sensitivity and specificity in discriminating tumor and healthy brain tissue, tumor-to-normal ratio of fluorescent signal, and incidence of adverse events. Results: The search strategy resulted in 2155 articles that were screened by titles and abstracts. After full-text screening, 105 articles fulfilled the inclusion criteria evaluating the following fluorescent agents: 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) (44 studies, including three randomized control trials), fluorescein (11), indocyanine green (five), hypericin (two), 5-aminofluorescein-human serum albumin (one), endogenous fluorophores (nine) and fluorescent agents in a pre-clinical testing phase (30). Three meta-analyses were also identified. Conclusions: 5-ALA is the only fluorescent agent that has been tested in a randomized controlled trial and results in an improvement of GTR and progression-free survival in high-grade gliomas. Observational cohort studies and case series suggest similar outcomes for FGS using fluorescein. Molecular targeting agents (e.g., fluorophore/nanoparticle labeled with anti-EGFR antibodies) are still in the pre-clinical phase, but offer promising results and may be valuable future alternatives
Theory of Concepts
UID/FIL/00183/2013authorsversionpublishe
Plasmon oscillations in ellipsoid nanoparticles: beyond dipole approximation
The plasmon oscillations of a metallic triaxial ellipsoid nanoparticle have
been studied within the framework of the quasistatic approximation. A general
method has been proposed for finding the analytical expressions describing the
potential and frequencies of the plasmon oscillations of an arbitrary
multipolarity order. The analytical expressions have been derived for an
electric potential and plasmon oscillation frequencies of the first 24 modes.
Other higher orders plasmon modes are investigated numerically.Comment: 33 pages, 12 figure
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