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    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.
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    Advanced fiber in-coupling through nanoprinted axially symmetric structures
    (New York, NY : AIP, 2023) Yermakov, Oleh; Zeisberger, Matthias; Schneidewind, Henrik; Kim, Jisoo; Bogdanov, Andrey; Kivshar, Yuri; Schmidt, Markus A.
    Here, we introduce and demonstrate nanoprinted all-dielectric nanostructures located on fiber end faces as a novel concept for the efficient coupling of light into optical fibers, especially at multiple incidence angles and across large angular intervals. Taking advantage of the unique properties of the nanoprinting technology, such as flexibly varying the width, height, and gap distance of each individual element, we realize different polymeric axial-symmetric structures, such as double-pitch gratings and aperiodic arrays, placed on the facet of commercial step-index fibers. Of particular note is the aperiodic geometry, enabling an unprecedentedly high average coupling efficiency across the entire angular range up to 80°, outperforming regular gratings and especially bare fibers by orders of magnitude. The excellent agreement between simulation and experiment clearly demonstrates the quality of the fabricated structures and the high accuracy of the nanoprinting process. Our approach enables realizing highly integrated and ready-to-use fiber devices, defining a new class of compact, flexible, and practically relevant all-fiber devices beyond the state-of-art. Applications can be found in a variety of cutting-edge fields that require highly efficient light collection over selected angular intervals, such as endoscopy or quantum technologies. Furthermore, fiber functionalization through nanoprinting represents a promising approach for interfacing highly complex functional photonic structures with optical fibers.
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    Fiber-based SORS-SERDS system and chemometrics for the diagnostics and therapy monitoring of psoriasis inflammatory disease in vivo
    (Washington, DC : Optica, 2021-1-28) Schleusener, Johannes; Guo, Shuxia; Darvin, Maxim E.; Thiede, Gisela; Chernavskaia, Olga; Knorr, Florian; Lademann, Jürgen; Popp, Jürgen; Bocklitz, Thomas W.
    Psoriasis is considered a widespread dermatological disease that can strongly affect the quality of life. Currently, the treatment is continued until the skin surface appears clinically healed. However, lesions appearing normal may contain modifications in deeper layers. To terminate the treatment too early can highly increase the risk of relapses. Therefore, techniques are needed for a better knowledge of the treatment process, especially to detect the lesion modifications in deeper layers. In this study, we developed a fiber-based SORS-SERDS system in combination with machine learning algorithms to non-invasively determine the treatment efficiency of psoriasis. The system was designed to acquire Raman spectra from three different depths into the skin, which provide rich information about the skin modifications in deeper layers. This way, it is expected to prevent the occurrence of relapses in case of a too short treatment. The method was verified with a study of 24 patients upon their two visits: the data is acquired at the beginning of a standard treatment (visit 1) and four months afterwards (visit 2). A mean sensitivity of ≥85% was achieved to distinguish psoriasis from normal skin at visit 1. At visit 2, where the patients were healed according to the clinical appearance, the mean sensitivity was ≈65%.
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    Autofluorescence guided welding of heart tissue by laser pulse bursts at 1550 nm
    (Washington, DC : Optica, 2020) Litvinova, Karina; Chernysheva, Maria; Stegemann, Berthold; Leyva, Francisco
    Wound healing and other surgical technologies traditionally solved by suturing and stapling have recently been enhanced by the application of laser tissue welding. The usage of high energy laser radiation to anastomose tissues eliminates a foreign body reaction, reduces scar formation, and allows for the creation of watertight closure. In the current work, we show that an ultrafast pulsed fibre laser beam with 183 µJ·cm−2 energy fluence at 1550 nm provides successful welding of dissected chicken heart walls with the tensile strength of 1.03±0.12 kg·cm−2 equal to that of native tissue. The welding process was monitored employing fluorescence spectroscopy that detects the biochemical composition of tissues. We believe that fluorescence spectroscopy guided laser tissue welding is a promising approach for decreasing wound healing times and the avoiding risks of postoperative complications.
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    Emission Manipulation by DNA Origami‐Assisted Plasmonic Nanoantennas
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2021) Yeşilyurt, Ayşe Tuğça Mina; Huang, Jer‐Shing
    Plasmonic nanoantennas mediate far and near optical fields and confine the light to subwavelength dimensions. The spatial organization of nanoantenna elements is critical as it affects the interelement coupling and determines the resultant antenna mode. To couple quantum emitters to optical antennas, high precision on the order of a few nm with respect to the antenna is necessary. As an emerging nanofabrication technique, DNA origami has proven itself to be a robust nanobreadboard to obtain sub-5 nm positioning precision for a diverse range of materials. Eliminating the need for expensive state-of-the-art top-down fabrication facilities, DNA origami enables cost-efficient implementation of nanoscale architectures, including novel nanoantennas. The ability of DNA origami to deterministically position single quantum emitters into nanoscale hotspots further boosts the efficiency of light–matter interaction controlled via optical antennas. This review recapitulates the recent progress in plasmonic nanoantennas assisted by DNA origami and focuses on their various configurations. How those nanoantennas act on the emission and absorption properties of quantum emitters positioned in the hotspots is explicitly discussed. In the end, open challenges are outlined and future possibilities lying ahead are pointed out for this powerful triad of biotechnology, nanooptics, and photophysics. © 2021 The Authors. Advanced Optical Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH
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    1D p–n Junction Electronic and Optoelectronic Devices from Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Lateral Heterostructures Grown by One-Pot Chemical Vapor Deposition Synthesis
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2021) Najafidehaghani, Emad; Gan, Ziyang; George, Antony; Lehnert, Tibor; Ngo, Gia Quyet; Neumann, Christof; Bucher, Tobias; Staude, Isabelle; Kaiser, David; Vogl, Tobias; Hübner, Uwe; Kaiser, Ute; Eilenberger, Falk; Turchanin, Andrey
    Lateral heterostructures of dissimilar monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides provide great opportunities to build 1D in-plane p–n junctions for sub-nanometer thin low-power electronic, optoelectronic, optical, and sensing devices. Electronic and optoelectronic applications of such p–n junction devices fabricated using a scalable one-pot chemical vapor deposition process yielding MoSe2-WSe2 lateral heterostructures are reported here. The growth of the monolayer lateral heterostructures is achieved by in situ controlling the partial pressures of the oxide precursors by a two-step heating protocol. The grown lateral heterostructures are characterized structurally and optically using optical microscopy, Raman spectroscopy/microscopy, and photoluminescence spectroscopy/microscopy. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy further confirms the high-quality 1D boundary between MoSe2 and WSe2 in the lateral heterostructure. p–n junction devices are fabricated from these lateral heterostructures and their applicability as rectifiers, solar cells, self-powered photovoltaic photodetectors, ambipolar transistors, and electroluminescent light emitters are demonstrated. © 2021 The Authors. Advanced Functional Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH
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    Photodoping and Fast Charge Extraction in Ionic Carbon Nitride Photoanodes
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2021) Adler, Christiane; Selim, Shababa; Krivtsov, Igor; Li, Chunyu; Mitoraj, Dariusz; Dietzek, Benjamin; Durrant, James R.; Beranek, Radim
    Ionic carbon nitrides based on poly(heptazine imides) (PHI) represent a vigorously studied class of materials with possible applications in photocatalysis and energy storage. Herein, for the first time, the photogenerated charge dynamics in highly stable and binder-free PHI photoanodes using in operando transient photocurrents and spectroelectrochemical photoinduced absorption measurements is studied. It is discovered that light-induced accumulation of long-lived trapped electrons within the PHI film leads to effective photodoping of the PHI film, resulting in a significant improvement of photocurrent response due to more efficient electron transport. While photodoping is previously reported for various semiconductors, it has not been shown before for carbon nitride materials. Furthermore, it is found that the extraction kinetics of untrapped electrons are remarkably fast in these PHI photoanodes, with electron extraction times (ms) comparable to those measured for commonly employed metal oxide semiconductors. These results shed light on the excellent performance of PHI photoanodes in alcohol photoreforming, including very negative photocurrent onset, outstanding fill factor, and the possibility to operate under zero-bias conditions. More generally, the here reported photodoping effect and fast electron extraction in PHI photoanodes establish a strong rationale for the use of PHI films in various applications, such as bias-free photoelectrochemistry or photobatteries. © 2021 The Authors. Advanced Functional Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH
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    Merging Top-Down and Bottom-Up Approaches to Fabricate Artificial Photonic Nanomaterials with a Deterministic Electric and Magnetic Response
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH Verlag, 2020) Dietrich K.; Zilk M.; Steglich M.; Siefke T.; Hübner U.; Pertsch T.; Rockstuhl C.; Tünnermann A.; Kley E.-B.
    Artificial photonic nanomaterials made from densely packed scatterers are frequently realized either by top-down or bottom-up techniques. While top-down techniques offer unprecedented control over achievable geometries for the scatterers, by trend they suffer from being limited to planar and periodic structures. In contrast, materials fabricated with bottom-up techniques do not suffer from such disadvantages but, unfortunately, they offer only little control on achievable geometries for the scatterers. To overcome these limitations, a nanofabrication strategy is introduced that merges both approaches. A large number of scatterers are fabricated with a tailored optical response by fast character projection electron-beam lithography and are embedded into a membrane. By peeling-off this membrane from the substrate, scrambling, and densifying it, a bulk material comprising densely packed and randomly arranged scatterers is obtained. The fabrication of an isotropic material from these scatterers with a strong electric and magnetic response is demonstrated. The approach of this study unlocks novel opportunities to fabricate nanomaterials with a complex optical response in the bulk but also on top of arbitrarily shaped surfaces. © 2019 The Authors. Published by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
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    Background Reduction in STED-FCS Using a Bivortex Phase Mask
    (Washington, DC : ACS Publications, 2020) Barbotin, Aurélien; Urbančič, Iztok; Galiani, Silvia; Eggeling, Christian; Booth, Martin
    Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) is a valuable tool to study the molecular dynamics in living cells. When used together with a super-resolution stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscope, STED-FCS can measure diffusion processes on the nanoscale in living cells. In two-dimensional (2D) systems like the cellular plasma membrane, a ring-shaped depletion focus is most commonly used to increase the lateral resolution, leading to more than 25-fold decrease in the observation volume, reaching the relevant scale of supramolecular arrangements. However, STED-FCS faces severe limitations when measuring diffusion in three dimensions (3D), largely due to the spurious background contributions from undepleted areas of the excitation focus that reduce the signal quality and ultimately limit the resolution. In this paper, we investigate how different STED confinement modes can mitigate this issue. By simulations as well as experiments with fluorescent probes in solution and in cells, we demonstrate that the coherent-hybrid (CH) depletion pattern created by a bivortex phase mask reduces background most efficiently and thus provides superior signal quality under comparable reduction of the observation volume. Featuring also the highest robustness to common optical aberrations, CH-STED can be considered the method of choice for reliable STED-FCS-based investigations of 3D diffusion on the subdiffraction scale. Copyright © 2020 American Chemical Society.
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    Axial dispersion-managed liquid-core fibers: A platform for tailored higher-order mode supercontinuum generation
    (Melville, NY : AIP Publishing, 2022) Qi, Xue; Scheibinger, Ramona; Nold, Johannes; Junaid, Saher; Chemnitz, Mario; Schmidt, Markus A.
    Soliton-based supercontinuum generation is a powerful approach for generating light with the desired properties, although limited dispersion tuning capabilities remain a key challenge. Here, we introduce liquid-core fibers (LCFs) with longitudinally controlled dispersion of a higher-order mode, achieved by axial modulation of the liquid core diameter. This approach provides a versatile photonic platform with unique dispersion control capabilities that are particularly relevant to ultrafast, non-linear frequency conversion. Our tuning concept uses LCFs with anomalous dispersion at telecommunication wavelengths (TE01-mode) and relies on the strong dependence of dispersion on the core diameter. Non-monotonic, complex dispersion profiles feature multiple dispersive waves formation when launching ultrashort pulses. For example, this effect has been used to fill spectral gaps in fibers with linearly decreasing core diameter in order to spectrally smooth the output spectra. Our results highlight the potential of LCFs for controlling dispersion, particularly along the fiber axis, thus yielding novel dispersion landscapes that can reveal unexplored nonlinear dynamics and generate tailored broadband spectra.