Lighting the Path: Light Delivery Strategies to Activate Photoresponsive Biomaterials In Vivo

Photoresponsive biomaterials are experiencing a transition from in vitro models to in vivo demonstrations that point toward clinical translation. Dynamic hydrogels for cell encapsulation, light-responsive carriers for controlled drug delivery, and nanomaterials containing photosensitizers for photodynamic therapy are relevant examples. Nonetheless, the step to the clinic largely depends on their combination with technologies to bring light into the body. This review highlights the challenge of photoactivation in vivo, and presents strategies for light management that can be adopted for this purpose. The authors’ focus is on technologies that are materials-driven, particularly upconversion nanoparticles that assist in “direct path” light delivery through tissue, and optical waveguides that “clear the path” between external light source and in vivo target. The authors’ intention is to assist the photoresponsive biomaterials community transition toward medical technologies by presenting light delivery concepts that can be integrated with the photoresponsive targets. The authors also aim to stimulate further innovation in materials-based light delivery platforms by highlighting needs and opportunities for in vivo photoactivation of biomaterials.     

离子交换铒掺杂磷酸盐玻璃波导特性研究

给出有关离子交换铒掺杂磷酸盐玻璃波导的制备以及发光特性的基本结果。用Ag+ Na+ 离子交换在含有适量氧化钠的铒掺杂磷酸盐玻璃上很容易实现低损耗平面波导 ,并且离子交换过程对这种玻璃的光谱特性没有影响。     

分析矩形光波导损耗的简易方法

利用有效折射率和修正的有效折射率方法对矩形光波导的损耗作了简单有效的分析，并且计算出了纵向传播系数和衰减系数的大小。     

质子交换铌酸锂波导MMI光功分器

利用三维非旁轴近似光束传输法对退火质子交换铌酸锂渐变折射率分布波导中的自镜像效应进行分析与模拟 .在此基础上 ,利用退火质子交换技术在 X切 Y传铌酸锂衬底上进一步制作了 1× 8MMI光功分器 .测试表明器件实现了 1路分成 8路的光功分功能 .     

Peptide Nanophotonics: From Optical Waveguiding to Precise Medicine and Multifunctional Biochips

Optical waveguiding phenomena found in bioinspired chemically synthesized peptide nanostructures are a new paradigm which can revolutionize emerging fields of precise medicine and health monitoring. A unique combination of their intrinsic biocompatibility with remarkable multifunctional optical properties and developed nanotechnology of large peptide wafers makes them highly promising for new biomedical light therapy tools and implantable optical biochips. This Review highlights a new field of peptide nanophotonics. It covers peptide nanotechnology and the fabrication process of peptide integrated optical circuits, basic studies of linear and nonlinear optical phenomena in biological and bioinspired nanostructures, and their passive and active optical waveguiding. It is shown that the optical properties of this generation of bio‐optical materials are governed by fundamental biological processes. Refolding the peptide secondary structure is followed by wideband optical absorption and visible tunable fluorescence. In peptide optical waveguides, such a bio‐optical effect leads to switching from passive waveguiding mode in native α‐helical phase to an active one in the β‐sheet phase. The found active waveguiding effect in β‐sheet fiber structures below optical diffraction limit opens an avenue for the future development of new bionanophotonics in ultrathin peptide/protein fibrillar structures toward advanced biomedical nanotechnology.     

Potential of near-field microwave imaging in breast cancer detection utilizing tapered rectangular waveguide probes

Microwave imaging for medical applications has been of interest for many years. A novel near-field microwave non-invasive testing and evaluation (NIT&E) technique utilizing tapered rectangular waveguide probes is presented for breast cancer detection. Near-field microwave NIT&E techniques can be a successful candidate for the detection of breast cancer because of their potential in dealing with materials of low conductivity (i.e. lossy dielectrics like the breast tissue). The physical basis for breast tumor detection with microwave imaging is the contrast in dielectric properties of normal and malignant breast tissues. A method adopting Fourier transform matching (FTM) technique and utilizing the reflection coefficient at the aperture of a tapered rectangular waveguide sensor radiating into a breast is described resulting in microwave images that indicate the presence of a tumor. These images demonstrate the feasibility of detecting breast tumors using this approach.     

双层石墨烯非对称波导中导模的色散关系

从具有能隙的双层石墨烯载流子所满足的哈密顿量出发,研究了非对称外势产生的波导结构中导模的存在性．在给定不同外势区域波函数的情况下,利用势垒边界处波函数的连续性条件,解析推导出了非对称波导中导模的色散关系,讨论了双层石墨烯的能隙对导模性质的影响．该研究为基于双层石墨烯波导器件的实际应用提供了理论依据．     

The Stiles–Crawford Effect: spot-size ratio departure in retinitis pigmentosa

The Stiles–Crawford effect of the first kind is the retina’s compensative response to loss of luminance efficiency for oblique stimulation manifested as the spot-size ratio departure from the perfect power coupling for a normal human eye. In a retinitis pigmentosa eye (RP), the normal cone photoreceptor morphology is affected due to foveal cone loss and disrupted cone mosaic spatial arrangement with reduction in directional sensitivity. We show that the flattened Stiles–Crawford function (SCF) in a RP eye is due to a different spot-size ratio departure profile, that is, for the same loss of luminance efficiency, a RP eye has a smaller departure from perfect power coupling compared to a normal eye. Again, the difference in spot-size ratio departure increases from the centre towards the periphery, having zero value for axial entry and maximum value for maximum peripheral entry indicating dispersal of photoreceptor alignment which prevents the retina to go for a bigger compensative response as it lacks both in number and appropriate cone morphology to tackle the loss of luminance efficiency for oblique stimulation. The slope of departure profile also testifies to the flattened SCF for a RP eye. Moreover, the discrepancy in spot-size ratio departure between a normal and a RP eye is shown to have a direct bearing on the Stiles–Crawford diminution of visibility.