Brillouin light scattering studies of planar metallic magnonic crystals

The application of Brillouin light scattering to the study of the spin-wave spectrum of one- and two-dimensional planar magnonic crystals consisting of arrays of interacting stripes, dots and antidots is reviewed. It is shown that the discrete set of allowed frequencies of an isolated nanoelement becomes a finite-width frequency band for an array of identical interacting elements. It is possible to tune the permitted and forbidden frequency bands, modifying the geometrical or the material magnetic parameters, as well as the external magnetic field. From a technological point of view, the accurate fabrication of planar magnonic crystals and a proper understanding of their magnetic excitation spectrum in the GHz range is oriented to the design of filters and waveguides for microwave communication systems

El empleo de la rifampicina en el tratamiento de las piodermas profundas crónicas del perro : revisión bibliográfica y presentación de trece casos clínicos

Las piodermas profundas crónicas son entidades clínicas difíciles de curar debido a la escasa capacidad de los antibióticos para llegar con suficiente concentración a esas lesiones. La rifampicina es un antibacteriana sistémico de excelente penetración en los tejidos, especialmente en aquéllos que están fibrosados. Después de una revisión bibliográfica de las piodermas y de este antibiótico, los autores realizan dos estudios: uno retrospectivo (ocho casos) y otro prospectivo (cinco casos) que demuestran el interés del empleo de la rifampicina en el tratamiento de este tipo de infecciones cutáneas.Chronic deep pyoderma is difficult to treat owing to the limited capacity of antibiotics to adequately penetrate the lesions. Rifampicin is a systemic antibacterial agent with excellent penetra tian capability, especially in fibrous issues. A review of the literature on pyoderma and rifampicin is presented. Two studies of the efficacy of rifampicin are described, a retrospective study (eight cases) and a prospective study (five cases), which demonstrate the value of rifampicín in the treatment of chronic deep skin infections

Shaped Pupil Lyot Coronagraphs: High-Contrast Solutions for Restricted Focal Planes

Coronagraphs of the apodized pupil and shaped pupil varieties use the Fraunhofer diffraction properties of amplitude masks to create regions of high contrast in the vicinity of a target star. Here we present a hybrid coronagraph architecture in which a binary, hard-edged shaped pupil mask replaces the gray, smooth apodizer of the apodized pupil Lyot coronagraph (APLC). For any contrast and bandwidth goal in this configuration, as long as the prescribed region of contrast is restricted to a finite area in the image, a shaped pupil is the apodizer with the highest transmission. We relate the starlight cancellation mechanism to that of the conventional APLC. We introduce a new class of solutions in which the amplitude profile of the Lyot stop, instead of being fixed as a padded replica of the telescope aperture, is jointly optimized with the apodizer. Finally, we describe shaped pupil Lyot coronagraph (SPLC) designs for the baseline architecture of the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope-Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets (WFIRST-AFTA) coronagraph. These SPLCs help to enable two scientific objectives of the WFIRST-AFTA mission: (1) broadband spectroscopy to characterize exoplanet atmospheres in reflected starlight and (2) debris disk imaging.Comment: 41 pages, 15 figures; published in the JATIS special section on WFIRST-AFTA coronagraph

Formation, Simulation and Restoration of Hypertelescopes Images

This book is a collection of 19 articles which reflect the courses given at the Collège de France/Summer school “Reconstruction d'images − Applications astrophysiques“ held in Nice and Fréjus, France, from June 18 to 22, 2012. The articles presented in this volume address emerging concepts and methods that are useful in the complex process of improving our knowledge of the celestial objects, including Earth

Optimal pupil apodizations for arbitrary apertures

We present here fully optimized two-dimensional pupil apodizations for which no specific geometric constraints are put on the pupil plane apodization, apart from the shape of the aperture itself. Masks for circular and segmented apertures are displayed, with and without central obstruction and spiders. Examples of optimal masks are shown for Subaru, SPICA and JWST. Several high-contrast regions are considered with different sizes, positions, shapes and contrasts. It is interesting to note that all the masks that result from these optimizations tend to have a binary transmission profile.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figure

High-performance luminescent solar concentrators based on poly(Cyclohexylmethacrylate) (PCHMA) films

In this study, we report on the use of poly(cyclohexylmethacrylate) (PCHMA) as an alternative to the commonly used poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) for the design of efficient luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs). PCHMA was selected due to its less polar nature with respect to PMMA, a characteristic that was reported to be beneficial in promoting the fluorophore dispersibility in the matrix, thus maximizing the efficiency of LSCs also at high doping. In this sense, LSC thin films based on PCHMA and containing different contents of Lumogen F Red 305 (LR, 0.2–1.8 wt%) demonstrated optical efficiencies (ηopt) comprising between 9.5% and 10.0%, i.e., about 0.5–1% higher than those collected from the LR/PMMA systems. The higher LR/polymer interactions occurred using the PCHMA matrix maximized the solar harvesting characteristics of the fluorophore and limited the influence of the adverse dissipative phenomena on the fluorophore quantum efficiency. These effects were also reflected by varying the LSC film thickness and reaching maximum ηopt of about 11.5% in the case of PCHMA films of about 30 µm

Rapid formation of large aggregates during the spring bloom of Kerguelen Island: observations and model comparisons

International audienceWhile production of aggregates and their subsequent sinking is known to be one pathway for the downward movement of organic matter from the euphotic zone, the rapid transition from non-aggregated to aggregated particles has not been reported previously. We made one vertical profile of particle size distributions (PSD; sizes ranging from 0.052 to several millimeters in equivalent spherical diameter) at pre-bloom stage and seven vertical profiles 3 weeks later over a 48 h period at early bloom stage using the Underwater Vision Profiler during the Kerguelen Ocean and Plateau Compared Study cruise 2 (KEOPS2, October– November 2011). In these naturally iron-fertilized waters southeast of Kerguelen Island (Southern Ocean), the total particle numerical abundance increased by more than four-fold within this time period. A massive total volume increase associated with particle size distribution changes was observed over the 48 h survey, showing the rapid formation of large particles and their accumulation at the base of the mixed layer. The results of a one-dimensional particle dynamics model support coagulation as the mechanism responsible for the rapid aggregate formation and the development of the V T subsurface maxima. The comparison of V T profiles between early bloom stage and pre-bloom stage indicates an increase of particulate export below 200 m when bloom has developed. These results highlight the role of coagulation in forming large particles and triggering carbon export at the early stage of a naturally iron-fertilized bloom, while zoo-plankton grazing may dominate later in the season. The rapid changes observed illustrate the critical need to measure carbon export flux with high sampling temporal resolution. Our results are the first published in situ observations of the rapid accumulation of marine aggregates and their export and the general agreement of this rapid event with a model of phyto-plankton growth and coagulation

Use of bremsstrahlung radiation to identify hidden weak beta- sources: feasibility and possible use in radio-guided surgery

The recent interest in beta- radionuclides for radio-guided surgery derives from the feature of the beta radiation to release energy in few millimeters of tissue. Such feature can be used to locate residual tumors with a probe located in its immediate vicinity, determining the resection margins with an accuracy of millimeters. The drawback of this technique is that it does not allow to identify tumors hidden in more than few mm of tissue. Conversely, the bremsstrahlung X-rays emitted by the interaction of the beta- radiation with the nuclei of the tissue are relatively penetrating. To complement the beta- probes, we have therefore developed a detector based on cadmium telluride, an X-ray detector with a high quantum efficiency working at room temperature. We measured the secondary emission of bremsstrahlung photons in a target of Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) with a density similar to living tissue. The results show that this device allows to detect a 1 ml residual or lymph-node with an activity of 1 kBq hidden under a layer of 10 mm of PMMA with a 3:1 signal to noise, i.e. with a five sigma discrimination in less than 5 s

Simultaneous existence of two spin-wave modes in ultrathin Fe/GaAs(001) films studied by Brillouin Light Scattering: experiment and theory

A double-peaked structure was observed in the {\it in-situ} Brillouin Light Scattering (BLS) spectra of a 6 \AA$$ thick epitaxial Fe/GaAs(001) film for values of an external magnetic field $H$, applied along the hard in plane direction, lower than a critical value $H_c\simeq 0.9$ kOe. This experimental finding is theoretically interpreted in terms of a model which assumes a non-homogeneous magnetic ground state characterized by the presence of perperpendicular up/down stripe domains. For such a ground state, two spin-wave modes, namely an acoustic and an optic mode, can exist. Upon increasing the field the magnetization tilts in the film plane, and for $H \ge H_{c}$ the ground state is homogeneous, thus allowing the existence of just a single spin-wave mode. The frequencies of the two spin-wave modes were calculated and successfully compared with the experimental data. The field dependence of the intensities of the corresponding two peaks that are present in the BLS spectra was also estimated, providing further support to the above-mentioned interpretation.Comment: Shortened version (7 pages). Accepted for publication in Physical Review