Dispersion characteristics of face modes in ionic-crystal and plasmonic-metal nanoparticles

Shape-dependent modes dominate the optical states of nanoparticles in the infrared spectra of ionic crystals and in the visible spectra of plasmonic metals. Here, the characteristic dispersion, or the shift in energy associated with the spatial period of surface charge oscillations, of surface modes governed by charges on the faces of prismatic nanoparticles is shown to follow the same form as the dispersion of the antisymmetric and cavity modes of infinite thin films and cylinders. Examination of the quasi-static eigenmodes of cubic particles with and without an internal octahedral cavity reveals the origins of this antisymmetric character and demonstrates self-coupling in the particles containing cavities. In these particles, interactions between the face and cavity modes give rise to distinctive optical states at energies approaching the longitudinal optical phonon frequency in ionic crystals or the bulk plasma frequency in metal nanoparticles.Henslow Research Fellowship, Girton College, Cambridg

Surface plasmon excitations in metal spheres: Direct comparison of light scattering and electron energy-loss spectroscopy by modal decomposition

In previous publications, qualitative agreement between studies of surface plasmon excitations in nanoparticles by near field light scattering and electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) has been found for experiments and simulations. Here, we present a quantitative method for the comparison of light scattering and EELS for surface plasmons in metal spheres. Defining the Fourier transform of the modal component of the scattered electric field along the equivalent electron trajectory enables a direct evaluation of the relative weighting factor for light- and electron-excited surface plasmon modes. This common quantity for light scattering and EELS is examined for size, composition, and trajectory dependencies, facilitating the analysis of key differences between light and electron excitation. A single functional dependence on Drude model plasmon energies is identified to explain the relative modal weighting factors for light scattering and EELS. This method represents an important step toward the complete spectral and spatial reconstruction of EELS maps from near field light scattering calculations.S.M.C. acknowledges the support of a Gates Cambridge Scholarship. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013)/ERC grant agreement 291522-3DIMAGE. P.A.M. also acknowledges funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme under a contract for an Integrated Infrastructure Initiative (Reference 312483-ESTEEM2)

Excitation dependent Fano-like interference effects in plasmonic silver nanorods

Surface plasmon resonances in metal nanoparticles are an emerging technology platform for nano-optics applications from sensing to solar energy conversion. The electromagnetic near field associated with these resonances arises from modes determined by the shape, size, and composition of the metal nanoparticle. When coupled in the near field, multiple resonant modes can interact to give rise to interference effects offering fine control of both the spectral response and spatial distribution of fields near the particle. Here, we present an examination of experimental electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) of silver nanorod monomer surface plasmon modes and present an explanation of observed spatial amplitude modulation of the Fabry-Pérot resonance modes of these silver nanorods using electrodynamics simulations. For these simulations, we identify differences in spectral peak symmetry in light scattering and electron spectroscopies (EELS and cathodoluminescence) and analyze the distinct near-field responses of silver nanorods to plane-wave light and electron beam excitation in terms of a coupled oscillator model. Effects of properties of the material and the incident field are evaluated, and the spatially resolved EELS signals are shown to provide a signature for assessing Fano-like interference effects in silver nanorods. These findings outline key considerations and challenges for interpreting electron microscopy data on plasmonic nanoparticles for understanding nanoscale optics and for characterization and design of photonic devices.S.M.C. acknowledges support of a Gates Cambridge Scholarship. D.R. acknowledges support from the Royal Society's Newton International Fellowship scheme. We acknowledge the use of computing facilities provided by CamGrid. Parts of this work were also performed using the Darwin Supercomputer of the University of Cambridge High Performance Computing Service (http://www.hpc.cam.ac.uk/), provided by Dell Inc. using Strategic Research Infrastructure Funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England and funding from the Science and Technology Facilities Council. We thank F.J. de la Peña for helpful discussions on the use of hyperspy. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Program (Grant No. FP7/2007-2013)/ERC Grant Agreement No. 291522-3DIMAGE. Data on rod “B” were acquired by one of us (D. Rossouw) with support of a NSERC Discovery Grant (G. A. Botton) at the Canadian Centre for Electron Microscopy, a national facility supported by NSERC and McMaster University. We thank G. A. Botton for access to data on rod “B” and for helpful comments on this manuscript. P.A.M. also acknowledges funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Program under a contract for an Integrated Infrastructure Initiative (Reference No. 312483-ESTEEM2)

Carcinoid tumour of the kidney in a Chinese woman presenting with loin pain

Renal carcinoid tumours are uncommon. The aetiology is not yet fully understood and there is still no useful diagnostic tool for detecting them. We report our experience managing a Chinese woman with a primary renal carcinoid tumour.published_or_final_versio

Progress and opportunities in EELS and EDS tomography.

Electron tomography using energy loss and X-ray spectroscopy in the electron microscope continues to develop in rapidly evolving and diverse directions, enabling new insight into the three-dimensional chemistry and physics of nanoscale volumes. Progress has been made recently in improving reconstructions from EELS and EDS signals in electron tomography by applying compressed sensing methods, characterizing new detector technologies in detail, deriving improved models of signal generation, and exploring machine learning approaches to signal processing. These disparate threads can be brought together in a cohesive framework in terms of a model-based approach to analytical electron tomography. Models incorporate information on signal generation and detection as well as prior knowledge of structures in the spectrum image data. Many recent examples illustrate the flexibility of this approach and its feasibility for addressing challenges in non-linear or limited signals in EELS and EDS tomography. Further work in combining multiple imaging and spectroscopy modalities, developing synergistic data acquisition, processing, and reconstruction approaches, and improving the precision of quantitative spectroscopic tomography will expand the frontiers of spatial resolution, dose limits, and maximal information recovery.SMC acknowledges support from the EPSRC Cambridge NanoDTC, EP/G037221/1, and Trinity College, Cambridge. SMC and PAM also acknowledge support from the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Program (No. FP7/2007–2013)/ERC Grant Agreement No. 291522-3DIMAGE

Predicting the emergence of drug-resistant HSV-2: new predictions

BACKGROUND: Mathematical models can be used to predict the emergence and transmission of antiviral resistance. Previously it has been predicted that high usage of antivirals (in immunocompetent populations) to treat Herpes Simplex Virus type 2 (HSV-2) would only lead to fairly low levels of antiviral resistance. The HSV-2 predictions were based upon the assumption that drug-resistant strains of HSV-2 would be less infectious than drug-sensitive strains but that the drug-resistant strains would not be impaired in their ability to reactivate. Recent data suggest that some drug-resistant strains of HSV-2 are likely to be impaired in their ability to reactivate. Objectives: (1) To predict the effect of a high usage of antivirals on the prevalence of drug-resistant HSV-2 under the assumption that drug-resistant strains will be less infectious than drug-sensitive strains of HSV-2 and also have an impaired ability to reactivate. (2) To compare predictions with previous published predictions. METHODS: We generated theoretical drug-resistant HSV-2 strains that were attenuated (in comparison with drug-sensitive strains) in both infectivity and ability to reactivate. We then used a transmission model to predict the emergence and transmission of drug-resistant HSV-2 in the immunocompetent population assuming a high usage of antivirals. RESULTS: Our predictions are an order of magnitude lower than previous predictions; we predict that even after 25 years of high antiviral usage only 5 out of 10,000 immunocompetent individuals will be shedding drug-resistant virus. Furthermore, after 25 years, 52 cases of HSV-2 would have been prevented for each prevalent case of drug-resistant HSV-2. CONCLUSIONS: The predicted levels of drug-resistant HSV-2 for the immunocompetent population are so low that it seems unlikely that cases of drug-resistant HSV-2 will be detected

Eigenmode Tomography of Surface Charge Oscillations of Plasmonic Nanoparticles by Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy

Plasmonic devices designed in three dimensions enable careful tuning of optical responses for control of complex electromagnetic interactions on the nanoscale. Probing the fundamental characteristics of the constituent nanoparticle building blocks is, however, often constrained by diffraction-limited spatial resolution in optical spectroscopy. Electron microscopy techniques, including electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), have recently been developed to image surface plasmon resonances qualitatively at the nanoscale in three dimensions using tomographic reconstruction techniques. Here, we present an experimental realization of a distinct method that uses direct analysis of modal surface charge distributions to reconstruct quantitatively the three-dimensional eigenmodes of a silver right bipyramid on a metal oxide substrate. This eigenmode tomography removes ambiguity in two-dimensional imaging of spatially-localized plasmonic resonances, reveals substrate-induced mode degeneracy breaking in the bipyramid, and enables EELS for the analysis not of a particular electron-induced response but of the underlying geometric modes characteristic of particle surface plasmons.S.M.C. acknowledges support of a Gates Cambridge Scholarship. E.R. acknowledges support from the Royal Society's Newton International Fellowship scheme and a Trinity Hall Research Fellowship. We thank Ben Knappet for assistance with the synthesis of the silver bipyramids. We thank F.J. de la Peña for helpful discussions on the use of HYPERSPY. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Program (No. FP7/2007-2013)/ERC Grant Agreement No. 291522-3DIMAGE and the European Union's Seventh Framework Program under a contract for an Integrated Infrastructure Initiative (Reference No. 312483-ESTEEM2)This is the final version of the article. It was first available from ACS via http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsphotonics.5b0042

On Glauber modes in Soft-Collinear Effective Theory

Gluon interactions involving spectator partons in collisions at hadronic machines are investigated. We find a class of examples in which a mode, called Glauber gluons, must be introduced to the effective theory for consistency.Comment: 19 pages, three figures. Uses JHEP3.cl

Is communications a strategic activity in UK Education?

This qualitative exploratory paper investigates whether communications/public relations is regarded by opinion formers in UK education as a strategic business activity or a tactical marketing tool. It is based upon depth interviews with 16 senior managers with strategic roles in UK higher or further education, or Government bodies, conducted between June and September 2004. The findings seem to suggest that communications/PR is ideally seen by leaders as a strategic function, but that there are limitations to this vision becoming a reality. The research goes on to offer initial conclusions on some of the issues surrounding perception, resource, and implementation of strategic communications/PR in UK education, with implications for practitioners considered