210 research outputs found
Nanodiamonds-induced effects on neuronal firing of mouse hippocampal microcircuits
Fluorescent nanodiamonds (FND) are carbon-based nanomaterials that can
efficiently incorporate optically active photoluminescent centers such as the
nitrogen-vacancy complex, thus making them promising candidates as optical
biolabels and drug-delivery agents. FNDs exhibit bright fluorescence without
photobleaching combined with high uptake rate and low cytotoxicity. Focusing on
FNDs interference with neuronal function, here we examined their effect on
cultured hippocampal neurons, monitoring the whole network development as well
as the electrophysiological properties of single neurons. We observed that FNDs
drastically decreased the frequency of inhibitory (from 1.81 Hz to 0.86 Hz) and
excitatory (from 1.61 Hz to 0.68 Hz) miniature postsynaptic currents, and
consistently reduced action potential (AP) firing frequency (by 36%), as
measured by microelectrode arrays. On the contrary, bursts synchronization was
preserved, as well as the amplitude of spontaneous inhibitory and excitatory
events. Current-clamp recordings revealed that the ratio of neurons responding
with AP trains of high-frequency (fast-spiking) versus neurons responding with
trains of low-frequency (slow-spiking) was unaltered, suggesting that FNDs
exerted a comparable action on neuronal subpopulations. At the single cell
level, rapid onset of the somatic AP ("kink") was drastically reduced in
FND-treated neurons, suggesting a reduced contribution of axonal and dendritic
components while preserving neuronal excitability.Comment: 34 pages, 9 figure
Measurement and modelling of anomalous polarity pulses in a multi-electrode diamond detector
In multi-electrode detectors, the motion of excess carriers generated by
ionizing radiation induces charge pulses at the electrodes, whose intensities
and polarities depend on the geometrical, electrostatic and carriers transport
properties of the device. The resulting charge sharing effects may lead to
bipolar currents, pulse height defects and anomalous polarity signals affecting
the response of the device to ionizing radiation. This latter effect has
recently attracted attention in commonly used detector materials, but different
interpretations have been suggested, depending on the material, the geometry of
the device and the nature of the ionizing radiation. In this letter, we report
on the investigation in the formation of anomalous polarity pulses in a
multi-electrode diamond detector with buried graphitic electrodes. In
particular, we propose a purely electrostatic model based on the
Shockley-Ramo-Gunn theory, providing a satisfactory description of anomalous
pulses observed in charge collection efficiency maps measured by means of Ion
Beam Induced Charge (IBIC) microscopy, and suitable for a general application
in multi-electrode devices and detectors.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure
Efficient fabrication of high-density ensembles of color centers via ion implantation on a hot diamond substrate
Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) centers in diamond are promising systems for quantum
technologies, including quantum metrology and sensing. A promising strategy for
the achievement of high sensitivity to external fields relies on the
exploitation of large ensembles of NV centers, whose fabrication by ion
implantation is upper limited by the amount of radiation damage introduced in
the diamond lattice. In this works we demonstrate an approach to increase the
density of NV centers upon the high-fluence implantation of MeV N2+ ions on a
hot target substrate (>550 {\deg}C). Our results show that, with respect to
room-temperature implantation, the high-temperature process increases the
vacancy density threshold required for the irreversible conversion of diamond
to a graphitic phase, thus enabling to achieve higher density ensembles.
Furthermore, the formation efficiency of color centers was investigated on
diamond substrates implanted at varying temperatures with MeV N2+ and Mg+ ions
revealing that the formation efficiency of both NV centers and
magnesium-vacancy (MgV) centers increases with the implantation temperature.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure
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