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Now showing 1 - 10 of 21
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    Beyond endoscopic assessment in inflammatory bowel disease: real-time histology of disease activity by non-linear multimodal imaging
    (London : Nature Publishing Group, 2016) Chernavskaia, Olga; Heuke, Sandro; Vieth, Michael; Friedrich, Oliver; Schürmann, Sebastian; Atreya, Raja; Stallmach, Andreas; Neurath, Markus F.; Waldner, Maximilian; Petersen, Iver; Schmitt, Michael; Bocklitz, Thomas; Popp, Jürgen
    Assessing disease activity is a prerequisite for an adequate treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. In addition to endoscopic mucosal healing, histologic remission poses a promising end-point of IBD therapy. However, evaluating histological remission harbors the risk for complications due to the acquisition of biopsies and results in a delay of diagnosis because of tissue processing procedures. In this regard, non-linear multimodal imaging techniques might serve as an unparalleled technique that allows the real-time evaluation of microscopic IBD activity in the endoscopy unit. In this study, tissue sections were investigated using the non-linear multimodal microscopy combination of coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS), two-photon excited auto fluorescence (TPEF) and second-harmonic generation (SHG). After the measurement a gold-standard assessment of histological indexes was carried out based on a conventional H&E stain. Subsequently, various geometry and intensity related features were extracted from the multimodal images. An optimized feature set was utilized to predict histological index levels based on a linear classifier. Based on the automated prediction, the diagnosis time interval is decreased. Therefore, non-linear multimodal imaging may provide a real-time diagnosis of IBD activity suited to assist clinical decision making within the endoscopy unit.
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    Evaluation of shifted excitation Raman difference spectroscopy and comparison to computational background correction methods applied to biochemical Raman spectra
    (Basel : MDPI, 2017) Cordero, Eliana; Korinth, Florian; Stiebing, Clara; Krafft, Christoph; Schie, Iwan W.; Popp, Jürgen
    Raman spectroscopy provides label-free biochemical information from tissue samples without complicated sample preparation. The clinical capability of Raman spectroscopy has been demonstrated in a wide range of in vitro and in vivo applications. However, a challenge for in vivo applications is the simultaneous excitation of auto-fluorescence in the majority of tissues of interest, such as liver, bladder, brain, and others. Raman bands are then superimposed on a fluorescence background, which can be several orders of magnitude larger than the Raman signal. To eliminate the disturbing fluorescence background, several approaches are available. Among instrumentational methods shifted excitation Raman difference spectroscopy (SERDS) has been widely applied and studied. Similarly, computational techniques, for instance extended multiplicative scatter correction (EMSC), have also been employed to remove undesired background contributions. Here, we present a theoretical and experimental evaluation and comparison of fluorescence background removal approaches for Raman spectra based on SERDS and EMSC.
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    Sub-picosecond temporal resolution of anomalous Hall currents in GaAs
    (Berlin : Nature Pulishing, 2017) Schmidt, Christian B.; Priyadarshi, Shekhar; Bieler, Mark
    Peroxidase-mimicking DNAzyme was applied as a catalyst of silver deposition on gold nanoparticles. This DNAzyme is formed when hemin binds to the G-quadruplex-forming DNA sequence. Such a system is able to catalyze a redox reaction with a one- or two-electron transfer. The process of silver deposition was monitored via a localized surface plasmon resonance technique (LSPR), which allows one to record scattering spectrum of a single nanoparticle. Our study showed that DNAzyme is able to catalyze silver deposition. The AFM experiments proved that DNAzyme induced the deposition of silver shells of approximately 20 nm thickness on Au nanoparticles (AuNPs). Such an effect is not observed when hemin is absent in the system. However, we noticed non-specific binding of hemin to the capture oligonucleotides on a gold NP probe that also induced some silver deposition, even though the capture probe was unable to form G-quadruplex. Analysis of SEM images indicated that the surface morphology of the silver layer deposited by DNAzyme is different from that obtained for hemin alone. The proposed strategy of silver layer synthesis on gold nanoparticles catalyzed by DNAzyme is an innovative approach and can be applied in bioanalysis (LSPR, electrochemistry) as well as in material sciences.
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    Using machine-learning to optimize phase contrast in a low-cost cellphone microscope
    (San Francisco, CA : Public Library of Science, 2018) Diederich, Benedict; Wartmann, Rolf; Schadwinkel, Harald; Heintzmann, Rainer
    Cellphones equipped with high-quality cameras and powerful CPUs as well as GPUs are widespread. This opens new prospects to use such existing computational and imaging resources to perform medical diagnosis in developing countries at a very low cost. Many relevant samples, like biological cells or waterborn parasites, are almost fully transparent. As they do not exhibit absorption, but alter the light’s phase only, they are almost invisible in brightfield microscopy. Expensive equipment and procedures for microscopic contrasting or sample staining often are not available. Dedicated illumination approaches, tailored to the sample under investigation help to boost the contrast. This is achieved by a programmable illumination source, which also allows to measure the phase gradient using the differential phase contrast (DPC) [1, 2] or even the quantitative phase using the derived qDPC approach [3]. By applying machine-learning techniques, such as a convolutional neural network (CNN), it is possible to learn a relationship between samples to be examined and its optimal light source shapes, in order to increase e.g. phase contrast, from a given dataset to enable real-time applications. For the experimental setup, we developed a 3D-printed smartphone microscope for less than 100 $ using off-the-shelf components only such as a low-cost video projector. The fully automated system assures true Koehler illumination with an LCD as the condenser aperture and a reversed smartphone lens as the microscope objective. We show that the effect of a varied light source shape, using the pre-trained CNN, does not only improve the phase contrast, but also the impression of an improvement in optical resolution without adding any special optics, as demonstrated by measurements.
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    High-bit rate ultra-compact light routing with mode-selective on-chip nanoantennas
    (Washington D.C. : AAAS, 2017) Guo, Rui; Decker, Manuel; Setzpfandt, Frank; Gai, Xin; Choi, Duk-Yong; Kiselev, Roman; Chipouline, Arkadi; Staude, Isabelle; Pertsch, Thomas; Neshev, Dragomir N.
    Optical nanoantennas provide a promising pathway toward advanced manipulation of light waves, such as directional scattering, polarization conversion, and fluorescence enhancement. Although these functionalities were mainly studied for nanoantennas in free space or on homogeneous substrates, their integration with optical waveguides offers an important “wired” connection to other functional optical components. Taking advantage of the nanoantenna’s versatility and unrivaled compactness, their imprinting onto optical waveguides would enable a marked enhancement of design freedom and integration density for optical on-chip devices. Several examples of this concept have been demonstrated recently. However, the important question of whether nanoantennas can fulfill functionalities for high-bit rate signal transmission without degradation, which is the core purpose of many integrated optical applications, has not yet been experimentally investigated. We introduce and investigate directional, polarization-selective, and mode-selective on-chip nanoantennas integrated with a silicon rib waveguide. We demonstrate that these nanoantennas can separate optical signals with different polarizations by coupling the different polarizations of light vertically to different waveguide modes propagating into opposite directions. As the central result of this work, we show the suitability of this concept for the control of optical signals with ASK (amplitude-shift keying) NRZ (nonreturn to zero) modulation [10 Gigabit/s (Gb/s)] without significant bit error rate impairments. Our results demonstrate that waveguide-integrated nanoantennas have the potential to be used as ultra-compact polarization-demultiplexing on-chip devices for high–bit rate telecommunication applications.
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    Independently tunable dual-wavelength fiber oscillator with synchronized pulsed emission based on a theta ring cavity and a fiber Bragg grating array
    (Washington D.C. : Optical Society of America, 2017) Tiess, Tobias; Becker, Martin; Rothhardt, Manfred; Bartelt, Hartmut; Jäger, Matthias
    We present a fiber-integrated laser enabling independent tuning of two emission wavelengths with a synchronized pulsed emission. The discrete tuning concept comprises a theta cavity fiber laser (TCFL), a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) array as a versatile spectral filter, facilitating tailored tuning ranges, and optical gating to control the emission spectrum. A novel electrical driving scheme uniquely enables independently tunable multi-wavelength emission from a single laser oscillator. Tunable dual-wavelength emission is experimentally investigated with a ytterbium (Yb)-doped TCFL using an FBG array with 11 gratings. Over a tuning range of 25 nm, 55 wavelength pairs have been demonstrated with high signal contrast (≈ 40 dB) and narrow linewidth (< 40GHz). Based on the demands of prospective applications, pulse synchronicity is studied with a fiber-based time-delay spectrometer (TDS) simultaneously measuring the joint temporal and spectral pulse properties down to a single-pulse analysis. Accordingly, tunable and fully synchronized dual-wavelength emissions have been verified by driving the TCFL with optimized electrical gating parameters. This unique operation mode achieved in a cost-efficient fiber-integrated laser design targets novel applications e.g. in nonlinear spectroscopy and biophotonics.
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    Optical assets of in situ electro-assembled platinum black nanolayers
    (London : Nature Publishing Group, 2017) Stanca, S.E.; Hänschke, F.; Zieger, G.; Dellith, J.; Ihring, A.; Undisz, A.; Meyer, H.-G.
    Optoelectronic technology has been increasingly driven towards miniaturization. In this regard, maintaining the optical properties of the bulk materials while reducing their size is a critical need. How thin must the film be to preserve the bulk material´s optical absorbance and reflectance characteristics? This is the central question for our study of the in situ electro-assembly broad band optical absorber films of platinum in non-aqueous solution of PtCl4. By reducing the in situ constructed film to sub-visible-wavelength thicknesses, the measured reflectance in the region from the ultraviolet to the infrared remained close to that exhibited by the micrometre-width films. These platinum black films broadly absorb electromagnetic waves at a sub-incident-wavelength thickness owing to their plasmonically increased absorbance cross-section. Simulation of various incident energy electron trajectories gives insights into the electron depth through the porous platinum black of ρ = 1.6 g/cm3 and previews the optical behaviour close to the atomic thickness.
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    Efficient laser-driven proton acceleration from cylindrical and planar cryogenic hydrogen jets
    (Berlin : Nature Pulishing, 2017) Obst, Lieselotte; Göde, Sebastian; Rehwald, Martin; Brack, Florian-Emanuel; Branco, Joao; Bock, Stefan; Bussmann, Michael; Cowan, Thomas E.; Curry, Chandra B.; Fiuza, Frederico; Gauthier, Maxence; Gebhardt, Rene; Helbig, Uwe; Huebl, Axel; Hübner, Uwe; Irman, Arie; Kazak, Lev; Kim, Jongjin B.; Kluge, Thomas; Kraft, Stephan; Löser, Markus; Metzkes, Josefine; Mishra, Rohini; Rödel, Christian; Schlenvoigt, Hans-Peter; Siebold, Mathias; Tiggesbäumker, Josef; Wolter, Steffen; Ziegler, Tim; Schramm, Ulrich; Glenzer, Siegfried H.; Zeil, Karl
    We report on recent experimental results deploying a continuous cryogenic hydrogen jet as a debris-free, renewable laser-driven source of pure proton beams generated at the 150 TW ultrashort pulse laser Draco. Efficient proton acceleration reaching cut-off energies of up to 20 MeV with particle numbers exceeding 109 particles per MeV per steradian is demonstrated, showing for the first time that the acceleration performance is comparable to solid foil targets with thicknesses in the micrometer range. Two different target geometries are presented and their proton beam deliverance characterized: cylindrical (∅ 5 μm) and planar (20 μm × 2 μm). In both cases typical Target Normal Sheath Acceleration emission patterns with exponential proton energy spectra are detected. Significantly higher proton numbers in laser-forward direction are observed when deploying the planar jet as compared to the cylindrical jet case. This is confirmed by two-dimensional Particle-in-Cell (2D3V PIC) simulations, which demonstrate that the planar jet proves favorable as its geometry leads to more optimized acceleration conditions.
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    High-temperature strain sensing using sapphire fibers with inscribed first-order Bragg gratings
    (New York, NY : IEEE, 2016) Habisreuther, Tobias; Elsmann, T.; Graf, A.; Schmidt, M.A.
    Strain sensor designs and strain measurements based on single-crystal sapphire fibers with inscribed first-order fiber Bragg gratings for applications up to 600 °C are presented. We report on all the details of two different sensor designs; for instance, we show that the resolution of multimode sapphire fiber Bragg grating (SFBG) strain sensors is about l / l = ¼ 10-5 (10 µstrain), which is comparable with state-of-the-art high-temperature sensors. We apply our sensors for the determination of the thermal expansion coefficients of high-temperature steel alloys, showing a good match to known values. Hence, we believe that SFBG sensors may represent a promising alternative to currently used non-optic-based strain-detecting devices.
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    Analytic model for the complex effective index of the leaky modes of tube-type anti-resonant hollow core fibers
    (Berlin : Nature Pulishing, 2017) Zeisberger, Matthias; Schmidt, Markus A.
    Due to their promising applications, hollow-core fibers, in particular, their anti-resonant versions, have recently attracted the attention of the photonics community. Here, we introduce a model that approximates, using the reflection of a wave on a single planar film, modal guidance in tube-type anti-resonant waveguides whose core diameters are large compared to the wavelength. The model yields analytic expressions for the real and imaginary parts of the complex effective index of the leaky modes supported, and is valid in all practically relevant situations, excellently matching all the important dispersion and loss parameters. Essential principles such as the fourth power dependence of the modal loss on the core radius at all wavelengths and the geometry-independent transition refractive index, below which modal discrimination favors the fundamental mode are discussed. As application examples, we use our model for understanding higher-order mode suppression in revolver-type fibers and for uncovering the tuning capabilities associated with nonlinear pulse propagation.