Development of hybrid reconstruction techniques for TAIGA

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Terahertz-to-infrared converters for imaging the human skin cancer:challenges and feasibility

Abstract Purpose: Terahertz (THz) medical imaging is a promising noninvasive technique for monitoring the skin’s conditions, early detection of the human skin cancer, and recovery from burns and wounds. It can be applied for visualization of the healing process directly through clinical dressings and restorative ointments, minimizing the frequency of dressing changes. The THz imaging technique is cost effective, as compared to the magnetic resonance method. Our aim was to develop an approach capable of providing better image resolution than the commercially available THz imaging cameras. Approach: The terahertz-to-infrared (THz-to-IR) converters can visualize the human skin cancer by converting the latter’s specific contrast patterns recognizable in THz radiation range into IR patterns, detectable by a standard IR imaging camera. At the core of suggested THz-to-IR converters are flat matrices transparent both in the THz range to be visualized and in the operating range of the IR camera, these matrices contain embedded metal nanoparticles (NPs), which, when irradiated with THz rays, convert the energy of THz photons into heat and become nanosources of IR radiation detectable by an IR camera. Results: The ways of creating the simplest converter, as well as a more complex converter with wider capabilities, are considered. The first converter is a gelatin matrix with gold 8.5-nm diameter NPs, and the second is a polystyrene matrix with 2-nm diameter NPs from copper–nickel MONEL® alloy 404. Conclusions: An approach with a THz-to-IR converter equipped with an IR camera is promising in that it could provide a better image of oncological pathology than the commercially available THz imaging cameras do

Multi-phonon (percolation) behavior and local clustering of CdxZn1−xSe-cubic mixed crystals (x ≤ 0.3): A Raman–ab initio study

International audienceWe present a polarization-dependent pure transverse-optic (TO) Raman study of high-quality Cd x Zn 1−x Se single crystals with zincblende (cubic) structures (x 0:3) covering both the phonon and phonon-polariton variants of the TO modes, using suitable backward and near-forward scattering geometries, respectively. Insight into the native phonon regime of the phonon-polaritons is obtained at intermediate composition of the random crystal (x ¼ 0:5, 0:3) and at the (Cd,Zn)-dilute limits (x 0:1; using prototype impurity motifs) by applying ab initio codes to large supercells (64-216 atoms), with special attention to both the Raman intensities and the phonon frequencies. The experimental (Raman) and theoretical (ab initio) results converge onto a percolation-type three-phonon [1 Â (Cd-Se), 2 Â (Zn-Se)] pattern for Cd x Zn 1−x Se. On the practical side, the interplay between the oscillator strengths of the two Zn-Se Raman modes is used to diagnose a pronounced trend toward local clustering in the studied crystals, presumably an early sign of the composition-induced zincblende ⇿ wurtzite structural transition (x 0:3). The deviation from the ideal Zn ⇿ Cd random substitution is estimated by working out a zincblende-version of the percolation model equipped with a relevant order parameter κ. The model is based on a sensitivity of the Zn-Se vibration to its local environment at the second-neighbor scale, independently supported by ab initio calculation of the Raman spectra in their dependence on κ (adjusted by simulated annealing