Remote‐Controlled Hydrogel Depots for Time‐Scheduled Vaccination

Remote‐controlled drug depots represent a highly valuable tool for the timely controlled administration of pharmaceuticals in a patient compliant manner. Here, the first pharmacologically controlled material that allows for the scheduled induction of a medical response in mice is described. To this aim, a novel, humanized biohybrid material that releases its cargo in response to a small‐molecule stimulus licensed for human use is developed. The functionality of the material in mice is demonstrated by the remote‐controlled delivery of a vaccine against the oncogenic human papillomavirus type 16. It is shown that the biohybrid depot‐mediated immunoprotection is equivalent to the classical multi‐injection‐based vaccination. These results indicate that this material can be used as a universal remote‐controlled vehicle for the patient‐compliant delivery of vaccines and pharmaceuticals.     

Time-domain modeling of semiconductor optical amplifiers for OTDMapplications

An advanced time-domain dynamical model for the investigation of semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOA) is presented. The model accounts for the ultrafast gain dynamics, the gain saturation and the gain spectral profile. It is also suitable for analyzing the amplifier in a system environment. As an example the model is used to investigate the gain dynamics of an SOA as well as the characteristics of an interferometer switch semiconductor laser amplifier in a loop mirror (SLALOM). Good agreement between modeling and experiment is shown. The model can be applied to the investigation of other optically time-division multiplexed (OTDM) applications, too     

Modeling of diode-pumped actively Q-switched lasers

The intracavity photon density and initial population inversion density in the diode-pumped actively Q-switched laser rate equations are assumed to be Gaussian distributions. These space-dependent rate equations are solved numerically and a group of general curves are generated. By using these curves and the related formulas, the pulse parameters of an arbitrary actively Q-switched laser can be easily estimated and an optimally coupled Q-switched laser can be designed. A sample calculation for a Q-switched Nd³⁺:YVO₄ laser is presented to demonstrate the use of the curves and the related formulas     

High-temperature oxidation of Pt-45Pd-10Rh

The surfaces of Pt-45Pd-10Rh foils oxidized over the range 875–1075 K in a 20% O₂-Ar mixture at atmospheric pressure were examined by Auger electron, X-ray photoelectron, and Raman spectroscopy. The composition of the oxide formed on the surface was found to vary with temperature from predominantly PdO at 875 K to PdRhO₂ at 1075 K. Only a few atomic percent Pt was observed, present in both the metallic and (apparently) +1 oxidation states at 875 K and in the metallic state at 1075 K. The formation of PdRhO₂ (and no Rh₂O₃) at 1075 K was found to persist upon reoxidation following a low-temperature reduction cycle in which the increased Rh concentration on the surface was retained. An oxidation-induced Rh enrichment of the surface of the alloy foil beyond 50 at. % does not appear likely within the temperature/pressure regime investigated.     

PdRhO2 formation during the air oxidation of a Pd-15Rh alloy

The surfaces of air-oxidized Pd-15Rh alloys have been examined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and by Raman spectroscopy. The XPS results indicate that the near-surface region of samples oxidized in the temperature range 1075 to 1125 K contains Pd in both the +2 and +1 oxidation states and Rh in the +3 oxidation state. The ratio of Pd (I) to Rh (III) is found to be 11. Raman spectra confirm that two Pd-containing phases, PdO and PdRhO₂, are present in the near-surface region and eliminate the possibility that Rh₂O₃ is present. Also, a resonant Raman effect is observed in anhydrous PdO for exciting wavelengths in the vicinity of 500 nm.     

Thermooptical compensation methods for high-power lasers

Thermally induced optical effects can be exploited to generate adaptive optical devices such as self-adjusting lenses. An adaptive lens in a resonator can be used to compensate for the thermal lens in a high-power solid-state laser rod (LR) and herewith significantly improve the beam quality and increase the output-power range of solid-state lasers. With suitable materials and an appropriate design of the compensating device, resonators with self-balancing thermal lenses can be developed. In this paper, we review the material requirements for a self-adaptive compensating element and discuss a selection of suitable materials (glasses, liquids and curing gels) and schemes to compensate for the thermal lens of a Nd:YAG LR. Finally, we present a very simple and promising design of a thermooptically self-compensated laser amplifier.     

1.47 /spl mu/m Tm/sup 3+/:ZBLAN fibre laser pumped at 1.064 /spl mu/m

A large core area (1257 /spl mu/m/sup 2/) Tm/sup 3+/-doped ZBLAN fibre laser operated at 1.47 /spl mu/m is demonstrated. The pump source is a Nd:YAG laser operated at 1.064 /spl mu/m. A laser output power of 1.56 W continuous wave was obtained for 5.2 W of launched pump power. The slope efficiency with respect to the launched pump power was measured to be 33%.     

Performance analysis of partially coherent SSD systems

The performance analysis of a system employing co-ordinate interleaving and constellation rotation, over Nakagami-m fading channels, in the presence of phase noise as well as additive white Gaussian noise, is presented. An upper bound for the average probability of bit error for M-ary phase shift keying is derived. It is shown that the derived upper bound is tight for high signal-to-noise ratios and in the presence of phase noise the optimum rotation angle does not change. Furthermore, it is shown that a system employing co-ordinate interleaving and constellation rotation is more robust against phase estimation errors.     

Voltage-influence of biased interconnection line on integrated circuit-internal current contrast measurements via magnetic force microscopy

A magnetic force microscopy (MFM) based current contrast imaging (CCI) test-system is a promising tool for advanced contactless circuit internal function and failure analysis of integrated circuits (IC). Contactless current images of 2μm wide interconnection lines with currents down to 1μA were already demonstrated by this technique. Latest measurements in ICs have shown a voltage influence of biased interconnection lines on IC-internal current measurements. Up to now this influence has not been investigated. Therefore, this paper deals with experimental investigations on this influence. A simple model was developed, allowing an interpretation of the experimental results.