Near-field imaging of surface-enhanced second harmonic generation

Surface-enhanced second harmonic generation from individual topographical defects of an otherwise flat gold film and from metal-coated diffraction gratings was measured using a near-field optical microscope. Experimentally measured second harmonic field distributions were compared with theoretical calculations.     

反射法测量固体材料的非线性系数研究

基于准线性近似理论研究有限幅值波的反射基波和二次谐波声场特性,采用多元高斯声束将其表征为平面波解、衍射项和衰减项组合的形式,推导出超声反射法测量固体纵波非线性系数的计算模型。对经垂直入射自由界面的反射二次谐波进行模拟分析,结果显示,尽管入射二次谐波的反射波与新产生的二次谐波相位相反导致总的反射二次谐波减弱,但当试块厚度大于1/2倍瑞利距离时,探头接受到的反射二次谐波可用于固体材料纵波非线性系数的有效测量。设计并开展了6061铝的纵波非线性系数测量试验,结果表明当考虑反射、衍射修正和衰减补偿后,反射法测得的纵波非线性系数值与透射法的测量结果相近,但相比透射法,反射法具有试验要求低、限制条件少等优势,为固体材料纵波非线性系数测量的实际应用提供了一种有效方法。     

High second harmonic generation signal from muscles and fascia pig's muscles using the two-photon laser scanning microscope

I have provided update to our two photon laser scanning microscope by adding new technique which enables us to simultaneously measured the second harmonic generation signals in the forward and backward directions; in the meantime, one can measure the two photon excitations fluorescence if the materials produce fluorescence. In the present work, the fascia muscles, muscles of pig and pig's skin were used. I found that these materials produced high second harmonic generation signal in both directions. These measurements show that the second harmonic generation strongly depends on the state of the polarization of the laser light and the orientation of the dipole moment in the molecules that interact with the laser light. It is therefore advantageous to control the laser's state of polarization, to maximize second harmonic generation. The novelty of this work is to establish new multi-functional technique by combing three platforms of laser scanning microscopy – the fluorescence microscopy, harmonic generation microscopy and polarizing microscopy in which one can use the second harmonic imaging to investigate the true architecture of the sensitive samples and the samples which do not produce auto-fluorescence. Moreover investigation of the new sample needs to look at all details of the true architecture of the sample. Thereby the sample will be exposed to the laser radiation more than the well-known sample, and that will cause photo-bleaching and photo-damage. Since the second harmonic generation does not undergo from photo-bleaching and photo-damage it will be the promising technique for investigating the sensitive and new samples. Then one can move to acquire fluorescence images after good investigation of the true architecture of the sample by the SH imaging.     

Near-field second harmonic imaging of the c/a/c/a polydomain structure of epitaxial PbZrxTi1–xO3 thin films

Near-field optical second harmonic microscopy has been applied to imaging of the c/a/c/a polydomain structure of epitaxial PbZr _x Ti_{1– x} O₃ thin films in the 0 <  x  < 0.4 range. Comparison of the near-field optical images and the results of atomic force microscopy and X-ray diffraction studies show that an optical resolution of the order of 100 nm is achieved. Symmetry properties of the near-field second harmonic signal allow us to obtain good optical contrast between the local second harmonic generation in c- and a-domains. Experimentally measured near-field second harmonic images have been compared with the results of theoretical calculations. Good agreement between theory and experiment is demonstrated.     

Three‐dimensional structural imaging of starch granules by second‐harmonic generation circular dichroism

Chirality is one of the most fundamental and essential structural properties of biological molecules. Many important biological molecules including amino acids and polysaccharides are intrinsically chiral. Conventionally, chiral species can be distinguished by interaction with circularly polarized light, and circular dichroism is one of the best‐known approaches for chirality detection. As a linear optical process, circular dichroism suffers from very low signal contrast and lack of spatial resolution in the axial direction. It has been demonstrated that by incorporating nonlinear interaction with circularly polarized excitation, second‐harmonic generation circular dichroism can provide much higher signal contrast. However, previous circular dichroism and second‐harmonic generation circular dichroism studies are mostly limited to probe chiralities at surfaces and interfaces. It is known that second‐harmonic generation, as a second‐order nonlinear optical effect, provides excellent optical sectioning capability when combined with a laser‐scanning microscope. In this work, we combine the axial resolving power of second‐harmonic generation and chiral sensitivity of second‐harmonic generation circular dichroism to realize three‐dimensional chiral detection in biological tissues. Within the point spread function of a tight focus, second‐harmonic generation circular dichroism could arise from the macroscopic supramolecular packing as well as the microscopic intramolecular chirality, so our aim is to clarify the origins of second‐harmonic generation circular dichroism response in complicated three‐dimensional biological systems. The sample we use is starch granules whose second‐harmonic generation‐active molecules are amylopectin with both microscopic chirality due to its helical structure and macroscopic chirality due to its crystallized packing. We found that in a starch granule, the second‐harmonic generation for right‐handed circularly polarized excitation is significantly different from second‐harmonic generation for left‐handed one, offering excellent second‐harmonic generation circular dichroism contrast that approaches 100%. In addition, three‐dimensional visualization of second‐harmonic generation circular dichroism distribution with sub‐micrometer spatial resolution is realized. We observed second‐harmonic generation circular dichroism sign change across the starch granules, and the result suggests that in thick biological tissue, second‐harmonic generation circular dichroism arises from macroscopic molecular packing. Our result provides a new method to visualize the organization of three‐dimensional structures of starch granules. The second‐harmonic generation circular dichroism imaging method expands the horizon of nonlinear chiroptical studies from simplified surface/solution environments to complicated biological tissues.     

Double-band sarcomeric SHG pattern induced by adult skeletal muscles alteration during myofibrils preparation

To understand the reported difference between double band, sarcomeric second harmonic generation pattern of isolated myofibril and predominant single band pattern found in thick muscle tissues, we studied the effect of myofibril preparation on the second harmonic generation pattern. We found that double band sarcomeric second harmonic generation pattern usually observed in myofibrils (prepared from fresh tissue) is due to muscle alteration during the mixing and triton treatment processes. Single band sarcomeric second harmonic generation pattern could be observed in isolated myofibrils when this alteration is previously prevented using paraformaldehyd fixed tissue. We conclude that single band sarcomeric second harmonic generation pattern is a signature of adult muscle myofibrils in normal physiological condition, suggesting that sarcomeric second harmonic generation patterns could be used as a valuable diagnosis tool of muscle health.     

故障转子SFD减振特性的实验

针对航空发动机转子常见的两种故障模式碰摩和不对中,实验研究挤压油膜阻尼器分别对上述两种故障引发的振动的抑制效果。在转子实验器上分别模拟碰摩故障和不对中故障,并测试使用挤压油膜阻尼器前后故障转子振动特征的变化。实验结果表明,碰摩故障导致转子振动一阶反进动和一阶进动比增大,不对中故障导致转子振动二倍频增大;对于碰摩故障,挤压油膜阻尼器可以有效减小涡轮盘处振动和弹支辐条的应变,但对压气机盘减振失效;对于不对中故障,挤压油膜阻尼器可以减小转子振动,对于二倍频振动幅值的抑制尤为明显。     

Correlation between MEG and BOLD fMRI signals induced by visual flicker stimuli

The goal of this work was to investigate how the MEG signal amplitude correlates with that of BOLD fMRI. To investigate the correlation between fMRI and macroscopic electrical activity, BOLD fMRI and MEG was performed on the same subjects (n=5). A visual flicker stimulus of varying temporal frequency was used to elicit neural responses in early visual areas. A strong similarity was observed in frequency tuning curves between both modalities. Although, averaged over subjects, the BOLD tuning curve was somewhat broader than MEG, both BOLD and MEG had maxima at a flicker frequency of 10 Hz. Also, we measured the first and second harmonic components as the stimuli frequency by MEG. In the low stimuli frequency (less than 6 Hz), the second harmonic has comparable amplitude with the first harmonic, which implies that neural frequency response is nonlinear and has more nonlinear components in low frequency than in high frequency.     

基于二次谐波检测技术的智能瓦斯监测系统

提出了一种基于光谱吸收原理的瓦斯检测方法,即二次谐波检测法.在瓦斯检测过程中,一次谐波作为误差反馈信号,将光源的波长精确的锁定在瓦斯气体的吸收峰值上,二次谐波信号用于检测气体浓度,利用二次谐波和一次谐波的比值来消除由于光源的不稳定和变化等所引起的检测误差,提高了瓦斯检测系统的可靠性,减少了安全隐患,在一定程度上,避免了矿井事故的发生.     

Second harmonic atomic force microscopy imaging of live and fixed mammalian cells

Higher harmonic contributions in the movement of an oscillating atomic force microscopy (AFM) cantilever are generated by nonlinear tip–sample interactions, yielding additional information on structure and physical properties such as sample stiffness. Higher harmonic amplitudes are strongly enhanced in liquid compared to the operation in air, and were previously reported to result in better structural resolution in highly organized lattices of proteins in bacterial S-layers and viral capsids [J. Preiner, J. Tang, V. Pastushenko, P. Hinterdorfer, Phys. Rev. Lett. 99 (2007) 046102]. We compared first and second harmonics AFM imaging of live and fixed human lung epithelial cells, and microvascular endothelial cells from mouse myocardium (MyEnd). Phase–distance cycles revealed that the second harmonic phase is 8 times more sensitive than the first harmonic phase with respect to variations in the distance between cantilever and sample surface. Frequency spectra were acquired at different positions on living and fixed cells with second harmonic amplitude values correlating with the sample stiffness. We conclude that variations in sample stiffness and corresponding changes in the cantilever–sample distance, latter effect caused by the finite feedback response, result in second harmonic images with improved contrast and information that is not attainable in the fundamental frequency of an oscillating cantilever.     

Electron energy distribution function in plasma determined using numerical simulations of multiple harmonic components on Langmuir probe characteristic: efficiency of the method

The method proposed to determine the electron energy distribution is based on the numerical simulation of the effect induced by a sinusoidal perturbation superimposed to the direct current voltage applied to the probe. The simulation is generating a multiple harmonic components signal over the rough experimental data. Each harmonic component can be isolated by means of finite impulse response filters. Then, the second derivative is deduced from the second harmonic component using the Taylor expansion. The efficiency of the method is proved first on simple cases and second on typical Langmuir probes characteristics recorded in the expansion of a microwave plasma containing argon or nitrogen-hydrogen gas mixture. Results obtained using this method are compared to those, which are determined using a classical Savitzsky-Golay filter.     

体布拉格光栅外腔倍频半导体激光器研究

为提高绿光激光器的输出特性,设计了一种体布拉格光栅外腔倍频半导体激光器。采用反射型体布拉格光栅作为反馈元件构成外腔半导体激光器,并使用三硼酸锂晶体进行倍频,研究了基频光的光束及光谱特性对倍频光的光束及光谱特性的影响。实验结果表明,使用体布拉格光栅进行外腔锁波时,所得到的倍频光同样能实现窄带宽输出,同时倍频光的远场分布与基频光的远场分布一致。使用衍射效率为10%的体布拉格光栅作为外腔输出镜,可将半导体激光器的输出波长稳定锁定在1 064 nm,所得到的倍频光波长稳定在532 nm附近,光谱线宽压缩至0.4 nm左右,输出功率可达73 mW。     

Ultrasonic investigation of blood flow.

Ultrasound and the Doppler effect are used to measure blood velocity non-invasively in order to diagnose blood vessel disease. Intrusive lesions on arterial walls give rise to an alteration of the time-varying blood velocity waveform and local blood flow disturbance which are detected and measured using the envelope and width of the Doppler signal spectrogram respectively. Flow may also be imaged in colour superimposed on a grey-scale anatomical image allowing vessel narrowing and the accompanying flow disturbance to be visualized. Developments in three-dimensional imaging, angle tolerant velocity measurements and increased sensitivity using second harmonic backscatter from encapsulated-bubble contrast media ensure increasing use of this modality.     

Practical limits of resolution in confocal and non-linear microscopy

Calculated and measured resolution figures are presented for confocal microscopes with different pinhole sizes and for nonlinear (2-photon and second harmonic) microscopes. A modest degree of super-resolution is predicted for a confocal microscope but in practice this is not achievable and confocal fluorescence gives little resolution improvement over widefield. However, practical non-linear microscopes do approach their theoretical resolution and therefore show no resolution disadvantage relative to confocal microscopes in spite of the longer excitation wavelength.     

基于非线性输出频率响应函数的转子不对中-碰摩耦合故障诊断方法研究

基于非线性输出频率响应函数(NOFRF)的独特优势,将非线性输出频率响应函数引入到转子不对中-碰摩耦合故障中,提出了基于非线性输出频率响应函数的转子不对中-碰摩耦合故障诊断方法。利用提出的方法辨识得到了不同对中度及其角度的转子系统的NOFRF值,对比分析了不对中度及其角度对转子系统各阶NOFRF值的影响。仿真结果表明随着不对中度和角度的增加,NOFRF中二次谐波二阶非线性输出频率响应函数和二次谐波四阶非线性输出频率响应函数有着较为明显的增幅;一次谐波三阶非线性输出频率响应函数随不对中角度的增加而减小。因此,可以依据二次谐波二阶非线性输出频率响应函数、二次谐波四阶非线性输出频率响应函数、一次谐波三阶非线性输出频率响应函数值的变化规律识别转子系统的不对中程度。最后通过试验结果验证了仿真结果的正确性,研究成果为具有不对中-碰摩耦合故障的转子系统的故障诊断提供了重要的依据。     

基于Duffing van-der-pol系统几何特征的材料非线性特征量化

传统微弱信号检测方法在处理非线性Lamb波信号时存在精度不高且抗噪性能有限的问题,Duffing vander-pol系统作为非线性动力学系统十分适合检测由材料非线性特征引起的非线性Lamb波微弱变化。系统的几何特征——平均周期面积作为特征参数能对材料非线性导致的微弱二次谐波成分进行增强,进而表征材料非线性特征。采用系统分岔图确定Duffing van-der-pol系统的策动力参数,根据系统相轨迹确定系统状态并验证二次谐波的存在性。通过建立系统几何特征参数与二次谐波幅值的拟合线性关系,二次谐波幅值可以被精确量化,从而实现定量分析材料线性特征。通过实验对比传统的小波变换、卡尔曼滤波等降噪方法,在较强的噪声干扰下,基于Duffing van-der-pol系统几何特征的方法对二次谐波的量化依然可以保持较高精度,具有潜在的应用价值。     

Second‐harmonic microscopy of ex vivo porcine corneas

The ex vivo cornea of porcine eyes has been studied with second‐harmonic microscopy with a laboratory‐built system to examine the structure of collagen fibrils at different length scales, as well as the image dependence on polarization and wavelength of the illumination source. We found that collagen fibrils can effectively be visualized with second‐harmonic microscopy, in agreement with previous findings, at different wavelengths of the illumination. The same laser source used for imaging may also be used to induce changes to the corneal tissues that are observable both in the linear and second‐harmonic imaging channels. Such studies are essential first steps towards a future high‐resolution optical characterization technique for simultaneous corneal surgery and wound healing of the human eye.     

A novel method for extracting acoustic nonlinearity parameters with diffraction corrections

A new method for determining the acoustic nonlinearity parameter using a nonlinear data fitting method is proposed. Based on the quasilinear theory of Westervelt’s equation, the fundamental and second harmonic beam fields are expressed as a multi-Gaussian beam model that separates the attenuation and diffraction correction terms from the propagating plane waves. A nonlinear least squares curve-fitting method is developed to extract the nonlinearity parameter without knowing the attenuation coefficients of the material being tested. The nonlinearity parameter of water is determined using the proposed method, and the result agrees well with the literature value. The attenuation coefficients of the fundamental and the second harmonic are also extracted and discussed.     

激光跟踪仪测角误差补偿

由于激光跟踪仪的角度测量精度直接影响仪器的测量精度,本文提出了用自准直仪结合多面棱体对跟踪仪金属圆光栅测角误差进行离散标定的方法。研究了基于谐波分析的误差补偿方法,取金属柱面圆光栅测角误差中幅值较大且相位基本不变的谐波分量建立了补偿模型,避免了最小二乘法不收敛的问题。分析了标定测角误差的不确定度,结果显示：水平测角精度补偿前后分别为1.60"和0.90",俯仰测角精度补偿前后分别为4.89"和0.91",精度分别提高了44%和81%,从角秒级提高到了亚角秒级。结果表明,提出的方法可为激光跟踪仪水平和俯仰轴系提供测角误差补偿,对类似测角系统的误差补偿也有参考价值。     

Accurate measurement of NMR amplitudes using a computer-controlled wide line cw nuclear double resonance spectrometer

A computer-controlled cw nuclear magnetic double-resonance spectrometer, designed for studying the spin-lattice relaxation of quadrupolar nuclei in single crystals, is described. Resonances are detected by a Robinson spectrometer using a technique involving sinusoidal field modulation in conjunction with first and second harmonic phase-sensitive detection. The output of the first harmonic detector provides an error signal, which is used to 'lock' the spectrometer to the center of the resonance. The output of the second harmonic detector is used as the measure of NMR amplitude. Comprehensive tests have shown that the amplitudes of weak NMR signals can be compared with an accuracy of better than +/-0.1%. Numerous precautions to obtain such accuracy are discussed.