Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 116
  • Item
    Blind Super-Resolution Approach for Exploiting Illumination Variety in Optical-Lattice Illumination Microscopy
    (Washington, DC : ACS Publications, 2021) Samanta, Krishnendu; Sarkar, Swagato; Acuña, Sebastian; Joseph, Joby; Ahluwalia, Balpreet Singh; Agarwal, Krishna
    Optical-lattice illumination patterns help in pushing high spatial frequency components of the sample into the optical transfer function of a collection microscope. However, exploiting these high-frequency components require precise knowledge of illumination if reconstruction approaches similar to structured illumination microscopy are employed. Here, we present an alternate blind reconstruction approach that can provide super-resolution without the requirement of extra frames. For this, the property of exploiting temporal fluctuations in the sample emissions using “multiple signal classification algorithm” is extended aptly toward using spatial fluctuation of phase-modulated lattice illuminations for super-resolution. The super-resolution ability is shown for sinusoidal and multiperiodic lattice with approximately 3- and 6-fold resolution enhancements, respectively, over the diffraction limit. © 2021 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society
  • Item
    A 310 nm Optically Pumped AlGaN Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser
    (Washington, DC : ACS Publications, 2021) Hjort, Filip; Enslin, Johannes; Cobet, Munise; Bergmann, Michael A.; Gustavsson, Johan; Kolbe, Tim; Knauer, Arne; Nippert, Felix; Häusler, Ines; Wagner, Markus R.; Wernicke, Tim; Kneissl, Michael; Haglund, Åsa
    Ultraviolet light is essential for disinfection, fluorescence excitation, curing, and medical treatment. An ultraviolet light source with the small footprint and excellent optical characteristics of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) may enable new applications in all these areas. Until now, there have only been a few demonstrations of ultraviolet-emitting VCSELs, mainly optically pumped, and all with low Al-content AlGaN cavities and emission near the bandgap of GaN (360 nm). Here, we demonstrate an optically pumped VCSEL emitting in the UVB spectrum (280-320 nm) at room temperature, having an Al0.60Ga0.40N cavity between two dielectric distributed Bragg reflectors. The double dielectric distributed Bragg reflector design was realized by substrate removal using electrochemical etching. Our method is further extendable to even shorter wavelengths, which would establish a technology that enables VCSEL emission from UVA (320-400 nm) to UVC (<280 nm). © 2020 American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.
  • Item
    Plasmonic Properties of Colloidal Assemblies
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2021) Rossner, Christian; König, Tobias A.F.; Fery, Andreas
    The assembly of metal nanoparticles into supracolloidal structures unlocks optical features, which can go beyond synergistic combinations of the properties of their primary building units. This is due to inter-particle plasmonic coupling effects, which give rise to emergent properties. The motivation for this progress report is twofold: First, it is described how simulation approaches can be used to predict and understand the optical properties of supracolloidal metal clusters. These simulations may form the basis for the rational design of plasmonic assembly architectures, based on the desired functional cluster properties, and they may also spark novel material designs. Second, selected scalable state-of-the-art preparative strategies based on synthetic polymers to guide the supracolloidal assembly are discussed. These routes also allow for equipping the assembly structures with adaptive properties, which in turn enables (inter-)active control over the cluster optical properties. © 2021 The Authors. Advanced Optical Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH
  • Item
    Magnetic Hysteresis at 10 K in Single Molecule Magnet Self‐Assembled on Gold
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2021) Chen, Chia-Hsiang; Spree, Lukas; Koutsouflakis, Emmanouil; Krylov, Denis S.; Liu, Fupin; Brandenburg, Ariane; Velkos, Georgios; Schimmel, Sebastian; Avdoshenko, Stanislav M.; Federov, Alexander; Weschke, Eugen; Choueikani, Fadi; Ohresser, Philippe; Dreiser, Jan; Büchner, Bernd; Popov, Alexey A.
    Tremendous progress in the development of single molecule magnets (SMMs) raises the question of their device integration. On this route, understanding the properties of low‐dimensional assemblies of SMMs, in particular in contact with electrodes, is a necessary but difficult step. Here, it is shown that fullerene SMM self‐assembled on metal substrate from solution retains magnetic hysteresis up to 10 K. Fullerene‐SMM DySc2N@C80 and Dy2ScN@C80 are derivatized to introduce a thioacetate group, which is used to graft SMMs on gold. Magnetic properties of grafted SMMs are studied by X‐ray magnetic circular dichroism and compared to the films of nonderivatized fullerenes prepared by sublimation. In self‐assembled films, the magnetic moments of the Dy ions are preferentially aligned parallel to the surface, which is different from the disordered orientation of endohedral clusters in nonfunctionalized fullerenes. Whereas chemical derivatization reduces the blocking temperature of magnetization and narrows the hysteresis of Dy2ScN@C80, for DySc2N@C80 equally broad hysteresis is observed as in the fullerene multilayer. Magnetic bistability in the DySc2N@C80 grafted on gold is sustained up to 10 K. This study demonstrates that self‐assembly of fullerene‐SMM derivatives offers a facile solution‐based procedure for the preparation of functional magnetic sub‐monolayers with excellent SMM performance.
  • Item
    Spectrometer‐free Optical Hydrogen Sensing Based on Fano‐like Spatial Distribution of Transmission in a Metal−Insulator−Metal Plasmonic Doppler Grating
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2021) Chen, Yi‐Ju; Lin, Fan‐Cheng; Singh, Ankit Kumar; Ouyang, Lei; Huang, Jer‐Shing
    Optical nanosensors are promising for hydrogen sensing because they are small, free from spark generation, and feasible for remote optical readout. Conventional optical nanosensors require broadband excitation and spectrometers, rendering the devices bulky and complex. An alternative is spatial intensity-based optical sensing, which only requires an imaging system and a smartly designed platform to report the spatial distribution of analytical optical signals. Here, a spatial intensity-based hydrogen sensing platform is presented based on Fano-like spatial distribution of the transmission in a Pd-Al2O3-Au metal-insulator-metal plasmonic Doppler grating (MIM-PDG). The MIM-PDG manifests the Fano resonance as an asymmetric spatial transmission intensity profile. The absorption of hydrogen changes the spatial Fano-like transmission profiles, which can be analyzed with a “spatial” Fano resonance model and the extracted Fano resonance parameters can be used to establish analytical calibration lines. While gratings sensitive to hydrogen absorption are suitable for hydrogen sensing, hydrogen insensitive gratings are also found, which provide an unperturbed reference signal and may find applications in nanophotonic devices that require a stable optical response under fluctuating hydrogen atmosphere. The MIM-PDG platform is a spectrometer-free and intensity-based optical sensor that requires only an imaging system, making it promising for cellphone-based optical sensing applications. © 2021 The Authors. Advanced Optical Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.
  • Item
    Tailored Disorder in Photonics: Learning from Nature
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2021) Rothammer, Maximilian; Zollfrank, Cordt; Busch, Kurt; Freymann, Georg von
    Disorder and photonics have long been seen as natural adversaries and designers of optical systems have often driven systems to perfection by minimizing deviations from the ideal design. Especially in the field of photonic crystals and metamaterials but also for optical circuits, disorder has been avoided as a nuisance for many years. However, starting from the very robust structural colors found in nature, scientists learn to analyze and tailor disorder to achieve functionalities beyond what is possible with perfectly ordered or ideal systems alone. This review article covers theoretical and materials aspects of tailored disorder as well as experimental results. Furthermore selected examples are highlighted in greater detail, for which the intentional use of disorder adds additional functionality or provides novel functionality impossible without disorder. © 2021 The Authors. Advanced Optical Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH
  • Item
    Photonic contact thermometry using silicon ring resonators and tuneable laser-based spectroscopy
    (Berlin : De Gruyter, 2021) Eisermann, René; Krenek, Stephan; Winzer, Georg; Rudtsch, Steffen
    Photonic sensors offer the possibility of purely optical measurement in contact thermometry. In this work, silicon-based ring resonators were used for this purpose. These can be manufactured with a high degree of reproducibility and uniformity due to the established semiconductor manufacturing process. For the precise characterisation of these photonic sensors, a measurement setup was developed which allows laser-based spectroscopy around 1550 nm and stable temperature control from 5 °C to 95 °C. This was characterised in detail and the resulting uncertainty influences of both the measuring set-up and the data processing were quantified. The determined temperature stability at 20 °C is better than 0.51 mK for the typical acquisition time of 10 s for a 100 nm spectrum. For a measurement of >24 h at 30 °C a standard deviation of 2.6 mK could be achieved. A hydrogen cyanide reference gas cell was used for traceable in-situ correction of the wavelength. The determined correction function has a typical uncertainty of 0.6 pm. The resonance peaks of the ring resonators showed a high optical quality of 157 000 in the average with a filter depth of up to 20 dB in the wavelength range from 1525 nm to 1565 nm. When comparing different methods for the determination of the central wavelength of the resonance peaks, an uncertainty of 0.3 pm could be identified. A temperature-dependent shift of the resonance peaks of approx. 72 pm/K was determined. This temperature sensitivity leads together with the analysed uncertainty contributions to a repeatability of better than 10 mK in the analysed temperature range from 10 °C to 90 °C.
  • Item
    Switching Propulsion Mechanisms of Tubular Catalytic Micromotors
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2021) Wrede, Paul; Medina-Sánchez, Mariana; Fomin, Vladimir M.; Schmidt, Oliver G.
    Different propulsion mechanisms have been suggested for describing the motion of a variety of chemical micromotors, which have attracted great attention in the last decades due to their high efficiency and thrust force, enabling several applications in the fields of environmental remediation and biomedicine. Bubble-recoil based motion, in particular, has been modeled by three different phenomena: capillary forces, bubble growth, and bubble expulsion. However, these models have been suggested independently based on a single influencing factor (i.e., viscosity), limiting the understanding of the overall micromotor performance. Therefore, the combined effect of medium viscosity, surface tension, and fuel concentration is analyzed on the micromotor swimming ability, and the dominant propulsion mechanisms that describe its motion more accurately are identified. Using statistically relevant experimental data, a holistic theoretical model is proposed for bubble-propelled tubular catalytic micromotors that includes all three above-mentioned phenomena and provides deeper insights into their propulsion physics toward optimized geometries and experimental conditions.
  • Item
    Determination of Nutrients in Liquid Manures and Biogas Digestates by Portable Energy-Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry
    (Basel : MDPI AG, 2021) Horf, Michael; Gebbers, Robin; Vogel, Sebastian; Ostermann, Markus; Piepel, Max-Frederik; Olfs, Hans-Werner
    Knowing the exact nutrient composition of organic fertilizers is a prerequisite for their appropriate application to improve yield and to avoid environmental pollution by over-fertilization. Traditional standard chemical analysis is cost and time-consuming and thus it is unsuitable for a rapid analysis before manure application. As a possible alternative, a handheld X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometer was tested to enable a fast, simultaneous, and on-site analysis of several elements. A set of 62 liquid pig and cattle manures as well as biogas digestates were collected, intensively homogenized and analysed for the macro plant nutrients phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, calcium, and sulphur as well as the micro nutrients manganese, iron, copper, and zinc using the standard lab procedure. The effect of four different sample preparation steps (original, dried, filtered, and dried filter residues) on XRF measurement accuracy was examined. Therefore, XRF results were correlated with values of the reference analysis. The best R2s for each element ranged from 0.64 to 0.92. Comparing the four preparation steps, XRF results for dried samples showed good correlations (0.64 and 0.86) for all elements. XRF measurements using dried filter residues showed also good correlations with R2s between 0.65 and 0.91 except for P, Mg, and Ca. In contrast, correlation analysis for liquid samples (original and filtered) resulted in lower R2s from 0.02 to 0.68, except for K (0.83 and 0.87, respectively). Based on these results, it can be concluded that handheld XRF is a promising measuring system for element analysis in manures and digestates.
  • Item
    Construction of Eukaryotic Cell Biomimetics: Hierarchical Polymersomes-in-Proteinosome Multicompartment with Enzymatic Reactions Modulated Protein Transportation
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2021) Wen, Ping; Wang, Xueyi; Moreno, Silvia; Boye, Susanne; Voigt, Dagmar; Voit, Brigitte; Huang, Xin; Appelhans, Dietmar
    The eukaryotic cell is a smart compartment containing an outer permeable membrane, a cytoskeleton, and functional organelles, presenting part structures for life. The integration of membrane-containing artificial organelles (=polymersomes) into a large microcompartment is a key step towards the establishment of exquisite cellular biomimetics with different membrane properties. Herein, an efficient way to construct a hierarchical multicompartment composed of a hydrogel-filled proteinosome hybrid structure with an outer homogeneous membrane, a smart cytoskeleton-like scaffold, and polymersomes is designed. Specially, this hybrid structure creates a micro-environment for pH-responsive polymersomes to execute a desired substance transport upon response to biological stimuli. Within the dynamic pH-stable skeleton of the protein hydrogels, polymersomes with loaded PEGylated insulin biomacromolecules demonstrate a pH-responsive reversible swelling-deswelling and a desirable, on-demand cargo release which is induced by the enzymatic oxidation of glucose to gluconic acid. This stimulus responsive behavior is realized by tunable on/off states through protonation of the polymersomes membrane under the enzymatic reaction of glucose oxidase, integrated in the skeleton of protein hydrogels. The integration of polymersomes-based hybrid structure into the proteinosome compartment and the stimuli-response on enzyme reactions fulfills the requirements of eukaryotic cell biomimetics in complex architectures and allows mimicking cellular transportation processes.