Sub-10 fs pulses tunable from 480 to 980 nm from a NOPA pumped by a Yb:KGW source

We describe two noncollinear optical parametric amplifier (NOPA) systems pumped by either the second (515 nm) or the third (343 nm) harmonic of an Yb:KGW amplifier, respectively. Pulse durations as short as 6.8 fs are readily obtained by compression with commercially available chirped mirrors. The availability of both second and third harmonic for NOPA pumping allows for gap-free tuning from 520 to 980 nm. The use of an intermediate NOPA to generate seed light at 780 nm extends the tuning range of the third-harmonic pumped NOPA towards 450 nm

Vibrationally coherent crossing and coupling of electronic states during internal conversion in beta-carotene

Coupling of nuclear and electronic degrees of freedom mediates energy flow in molecules after optical excitation. The associated coherent dynamics in polyatomic systems, however, remain experimentally unexplored. Here, we combined transient absorption spectroscopy with electronic population control to reveal nuclear wavepacket dynamics during the S2-S1 internal conversion in beta-carotene. We show that passage through a conical intersection is vibrationally coherent and thereby provides direct feedback on the role of different vibrational coordinates in the breakdown of the Born-Oppenheimer approximation

Direct detection of single molecules by optical absorption

The advent of single molecule optics has had a profound impact in fields ranging from biophysics to material science, photophysics, and quantum optics. However, all existing room-temperature single molecule methods have been based on fluorescence detection of highly efficient emitters. Here we demonstrate that standard, modulation-free measurements known from conventional absorption spectrometers can indeed detect single molecules. We report on quantitative measurements of the absorption cross section of single molecules under ambient condition even in their dark state, for example during photoblinking or strong quenching. Our work extends single-molecule microscopy and spectroscopy to a huge class of materials that absorb light but do not fluoresce efficiently.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figure

Birthing Alone

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals implemented restrictive visitor policies that have prevented many pregnant people from giving birth with their chosen support people. For some, this meant foregoing labor and delivery support by a birth doula, someone who serves in a nonclinical role and provides emotional, physical, and informational support to birthing people. Given that continuous labor support such as the care provided by doulas is associated with fewer cesareans and other interventions, less need for pain medication, and shorter labors, the promotion of doula care is a promising strategy to ease the maternal health crisis and, in particular, shrink the perinatal health equity gap, as reflected in a pregnancy-related mortality rate for Black women that is three to four times higher than for White women. As COVID-19 case rates declined and hospitals relaxed their restrictions, some doulas found themselves subject to new hospital credentialing requirements in order to attend births, even though they serve in nonclinical roles and are hired by the birthing person rather than the hospital. This Article explores the often-contested relationship between doulas and hospitals, and between doulas and hospital-based perinatal care providers, against the historical backdrop of other restrictions on birthing companions since birth shifted from the home to the hospital around the turn of the twentieth century. It details the important role doulas play in promoting good perinatal health outcomes and considers why many hospitals and healthcare providers perceive doulas as a threat rather than as a source of value in the delivery room, which results in strategies to restrict doulas through formal and informal mechanisms. This Article suggests that hostility to doulas and restrictions on birth support reflect central qualities of mainstream perinatal care, such as liability-driven decision-making, nonadherence to evidence-based medicine, medical paternalism, and fear, all of which interfere with efforts to improve health outcomes in the midst of a maternal health crisis that disproportionately burdens communities of color. Ultimately, this Article argues that doula credentialing is a regulatory mismatch that should be abandoned by hospitals as misguided and counterproductive, and instead identifies public and private policy changes, along with related advocacy strategies, that would provide appropriate recognition of doulas within the perinatal healthcare system and serve both patient and provider interests while protecting the autonomy of doulas to operate within their scope of practice. Increased attention to the United States’ maternal health crisis and the opportunity to advance healthcare reforms that incorporate lessons from the pandemic make this a critical time to prevent the widespread adoption of credentialing requirements before they become the default norm, and instead to pursue investment in growing the doula model as an efficient and effective means to improve childbirth experiences and reduce the stark racial inequities in perinatal health outcomes

Pregnancy Risk and Coerced Interventions after \u3cem\u3eDobbs\u3c/em\u3e

Only nine months after the Supreme Court eliminated the federal constitutional right to abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, fourteen states had banned abortion entirely, and experts estimate the ultimate number of states imposing complete or near-complete restrictions on abortion care will likely rise to twenty-four. Millions of people with the capacity for pregnancy now (or will soon) live in places where getting pregnant means there is no choice other than to carry the pregnancy to term and give birth. One underappreciated, though critically important, impact of Dobbs is the extent to which newly enacted abortion restrictions will increase both the number of people with high-risk pregnancies and, relatedly, the number of people who are coerced into medical treatment during labor and delivery. Such mistreatment in the form of coerced interventions will compound the harm of forced pregnancy after Dobbs with negative consequences for the physical and emotional well-being of birthing people and their babies

Extinction imaging of a single quantum emitter in its bright and dark states

Room temperature detection of single quantum emitters has had a broad impact in fields ranging from biophysics to material science, photophysics, or even quantum optics. These experiments have exclusively relied on the efficient detection of fluorescence. An attractive alternative would be to employ direct absorption, or more correctly expressed "extinction" measurements. Indeed, small nanoparticles have been successfully detected using this scheme in reflection and transmission. Coherent extinction detection of single emitters has also been reported at cryogenic temperatures, but their room temperature implementation has remained a great laboratory challenge owing to the expected weak signal-to-noise ratio. Here we report the first extinction study of a single quantum emitter at ambient condition. We obtain a direct measure for the extinction cross section of a single semiconductor nanocrystal both during and in the absence of fluorescence, for example in the photobleached state or during blinking off-times. Our measurements pave the way for the detection and absorption spectroscopy of single molecules or clusters of atoms even in the quenched state

Revisiting Roe to Advance Reproductive Justice for Childbearing Women

The rewritten opinions that comprise Feminist Judgments together provide a powerful critique of judicial decisionmaking that renders certain women’s experiences invisible. By reimagining key Supreme Court decisions, the opinion writers unmask various ways that gendered conceptions of social roles are deeply entrenched in the rulings and reasoning of the highest court of the United States. The authors also show, through their alternative texts, that opinions which are celebrated as women’s rights victories can nevertheless impede progress toward equality and liberty. Kimberly Mutcherson’s rewritten concurrence in Roe v. Wade illustrates the missed opportunities and unintended consequences that have made the landmark 1973 opinion a mixed bag for childbearing women. In the opinion, “Justice” Mutcherson grounds the abortion right in both the due process and equal protection guarantees of the Fourteenth Amendment, articulating a powerful equality argument for legal abortion. In doing so, she rejects the trimester framework laid out in Justice Blackmun’s opinion, recognizing that by associating state regulation of abortion in the interest of protecting potential human life with a fixed point in time, Blackmun failed to anticipate how the use of a viability standard could be used to whittle away women’s reproductive autonomy in the name of fetal protection

Giving Birth under the ACA: Analyzing the Use of Law as a Tool to Improve Health Care

I. Introduction II. Overview of Maternity Care in the United States ... A. High Costs and Poor Outcomes: Demonstrating the Urgent Need for Maternity Care Reform ... B. Understanding the Landscape of Childbirth III. The ACA and Maternity Care ... A. The ACA’s Significant Expansion of Access to Maternity Coverage ... 1. ACA Reforms that Apply Regardless of Coverage Source ... 2. ACA Reforms That Apply to Particular Modes of Coverage ... a. Individual Market ... b. Medicaid ... B. The ACA’s Improvement of Maternity Care Benefits ... 1. ACA Reforms That Apply Regardless of Coverage Source ... 2. ACA Reforms That Apply to Particular Modes of Coverage ... a. Individual Market ... b. Private Insurance (Individual and Employer-Sponsored) ... c. Medicaid (and Medicare) ... C. The ACA’s Investments in Better Care through Programmatic and Policy Initiatives IV. Assessing the ACA’s Impact on Maternity Care: Enhancing Coverage without Shifting Culture ... A. The Need for Payment Reform in Maternity Care ... B. Improving Outcomes Requires Practicing Evidence-Based Maternity Care ... C. Transforming Birth by Elevating Midwives as Primary Maternity Care Providers V. Conclusion: Reflections on Law as a Tool to Improve Health Car

Punishing Maternal Ambivalence

There are certain landmarks on the road to parenthood that together comprise a cultural narrative about becoming a parent, a narrative that many aspire to emulate and that some achieve: celebrating a (heterosexual) marriage with a big wedding; a positive pregnancy test leading to overjoyed reactions; first ultrasound pictures hung on the fridge (and shared on social media); a healthy pregnancy with baby showers and nesting to prepare for the new arrival; maternity photo shoots and babymoons to celebrate the final moments before life changes; and finally, an uncomplicated labor and delivery that, in an instant, transform the couple into parents. These rituals and experiences are culturally salient, confirming that the participants are conforming to societal expectations about preparation and fitness for parenthood.But the transition from not being a parent to being a parent can take many different forms and embody different types of social meaning for the people involved. For some women, becoming a parent is much more fraught than the cultural narrative outlined here because they feel ambivalent about being a parent or about adding an additional child to their families. Maternal ambivalence has important, usually negative, social meaning and, increasingly, also legal significance for the mothers, children, and families involved. But the experience of ambivalence is usually invisible— something individual women feel privately and will perhaps share with trusted friends or a therapist, but which is not considered appropriate to discuss more publicly. The cloak of silence shielding these feelings from public awareness reflects the social stigma that attaches to maternal ambivalence, leading to emotional and psychological harm for some women who feel ambivalent about their pregnancies. The strength of this stigma enables feelings of ambivalence to be weaponized against pregnant and parenting women, sanctioning them for their deviance from social stereotypes regarding who is a “good” mother. This Essay explores the punishment of maternal ambivalence, drawing on three case studies to illustrate the strength of the stigma that attaches to such feelings. In these cases, the stigma of ambivalence turns such feelings into a weapon for disciplining women who fall short of societal expectations for mothers. These women (and others like them) are marked by social disadvantage, either because they are women of color in a racist society or because they are economically marginal, relying on low-wage jobs or an abusive husband in order to survive. Their race and class status may contribute to their ambivalence, making them reluctant to have a child whose basic needs they may not be able to satisfy. Such statuses also mark them for scrutiny and criminal sanction in a way that reflects not only gendered stereotypes but also racialized and class-based stereotypes about parental fitness and about who is deserving of society’s compassion and empathy