Absorption and optimal plasmonic resonances for small ellipsoidal particles in lossy media

A new simplified formula is derived for the absorption cross section of small dielectric ellipsoidal particles embedded in lossy media. The new expression leads directly to a closed form solution for the optimal conjugate match with respect to the surrounding medium, i.e. the optimal permittivity of the ellipsoidal particle that maximizes the absorption at any given frequency. This defines the optimal plasmonic resonance for the ellipsoid. The optimal conjugate match represents a metamaterial in the sense that the corresponding optimal permittivity function may have negative real part (inductive properties), and can not in general be implemented as a passive material over a given bandwidth. A necessary and sufficient condition is derived for the feasibility of tuning the Drude model to the optimal conjugate match at a single frequency, and it is found that all the prolate spheroids and some of the (not too flat) oblate spheroids can be tuned into optimal plasmonic resonance at any desired center frequency. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the analysis. Except for the general understanding of plasmonic resonances in lossy media, it is also anticipated that the new results can be useful for feasibility studies with e.g. the radiotherapeutic hyperthermia based methods to treat cancer based on electrophoretic heating in gold nanoparticle suspensions using microwave radiation

Parameter studies on optimal absorption and electrophoretic resonances in lossy media

This paper summarizes and elaborates on some new results on the optimal absorption in small spherical suspensions based on electrophoretic (plasmonic) resonances and lossy surrounding media. The main application here is to study the physical limitations for radio frequency absorption in gold nanoparticle (GNP) suspensions and its potential to achieve GNP targeted hyperthermia in cancer therapy. Numerical parameter studies are included to demonstrate the analysis approach

On the physical limitations for radio frequency absorption in gold nanoparticle suspensions

This paper presents a study of the physical limitations for radio frequency absorption in gold nanoparticle (GNP) suspensions. A spherical geometry is considered consisting of a spherical suspension of colloidal GNPs characterized as an arbitrary passive dielectric material which is immersed in an arbitrary lossy medium. A relative heating coefficient and a corresponding optimal near field excitation are defined taking the skin effect of the surrounding medium into account. The classical Mie theory for lossy media is also revisited, and it is shown that the optimal permittivity function yielding a maximal absorption inside the spherical suspension is a conjugate match with respect to the surrounding lossy material. A convex optimization approach is used to investigate the broadband realizability of an arbitrary passive material to approximate the desired conjugate match over a finite bandwidth, similar to the approximation of a metamaterial. A narrowband realizability study shows that for a surrounding medium consisting of a weak electrolyte solution, the electromagnetic heating due to the electrophoretic (plasmonic) resonance phenomena inside the spherical GNP suspension can be significant in the microwave regime, provided that the related Drude parameters can be tuned into (or near to) resonance. As a demonstration, some realistic Drude parameters are investigated concerning the volume fraction, mass, and friction constant of the GNPs. The amount of charge that can be accommodated by the GNPs is identified as one of the most important design parameters. However, the problem to reliably model, measure and control the charge number of coated GNPs is not yet fully understood, and is still an open research issue in this field. The presented theory and related physical limitations provide a useful framework for further research in this direction. Future research is also aiming at an expansion towards arbitrary suspension geometries and the inclusion of thermodynamical analysis

Breath detection using short-time Fourier transform analysis in electrical impedance tomography

Spectral analysis based on short-time Fourier transform (STFT) using Kaiser window is proposed to examine the frequency components of neonates EIT data. In this way, a simultaneous spatial-time-frequency analysis is achieved

Nanoparticle electrical impedance tomography

We have developed a new approach to imaging with electrical impedance tomography (EIT) using gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) to enhance impedance changes at targeted tissue sites. This is achieved using radio frequency (RF) to heat nanoparticles while applying EIT imaging. The initial results using 5-nm citrate coated AuNPs show that heating can enhance the impedance in a solution containing AuNPs due to the application of an RF field at 2.60 GHz

Torso shape detection to improve lung monitoring

Newborns with lung immaturity often require continuous monitoring and treatment of their lung ventilation in intensive care units, especially if born preterm. Recent studies indicate that Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) is feasible in newborn
 infants and children, and can quantitatively identify changes in regional lung aeration and ventilation following alterations to respiratory conditions. Information on the patient-specic shape of the torso and its role in minimizing the artefacts in the
 reconstructed images can improve the accuracy of the clinical parameters obtained from EIT. Currently, only idealized models or those segmented from CT scans are usually adopted. This study presents and compares two methodologies that can
 detect the patient-specic torso shape by means of wearable devices based on: (1) previously reported bend sensor technology and (2) a novel approach based on the use of accelerometers. The reconstruction of different phantoms, taking into account
 anatomical asymmetries and different sizes, are produced for comparison. As a result, the accelerometers are more versatile than bend sensors, which cannot be used on bigger cross-sections. The computational study estimates the optimal number of
 accelerometers required in order to generate an image reconstruction comparable to the use of a CT scan as the forward model. Furthermore, since the patient position is crucial to monitoring lung ventilation, the orientation of the phantoms is automatically
 detected by the accelerometer-based method. [Abstract copyright: © 2018 Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine.