Point-of-care real-time DNA detection device for SARS-CoV-2 from clinical samples.

Since the global pandemic of SARS-CoV-2, people's health and the economic support of their countries have been seriously affected. It was necessary to develop a low-cost and faster diagnostic tool that allows the evaluation of symptomatic patients. Point-of-care testing and point-of-need testing systems have been recently developed to solve these drawbacks, providing accurate and rapid diagnostics at field level or at the site of outbreaks.

Effective super-bandwidth in laser pulses.

We present here a theoretical analysis of the interaction between an ideal two-level quantum system and a super-oscillatory pulse, like the one proposed and successfully synthesized in [J. Opt.23, 075604 (2021)JOOPDB0150-536X10.

A study of polymer chain diffusion by surface enhanced Raman: effects of plasmonic substrate topology.

We report on a new methodology to track chain interdiffusion between polymer slabs based on Raman enhanced by plasmonic substrates. Diffusion is studied in a deuterated-polystyrene/polystyrene (dPS/PS) polymer pair, designed to provide a well-characterized diffusion behavior. The bilayer, 160 nm thick in total, is supported on a plasmonic substrate that provides local amplification of Raman signals in sample regions of close proximity to it.

A new method for relative Sr determination in human teeth enamel.

We present a new method to determine Sr/Ca changes in hard dental tissues based on laser ablation and spectroscopic detection. By using femtosecond Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (fs-LIBS), we micro mapped the relative amount of strontium in the enamel of three human lower third molar. We also analyzed the Sr/Ca ratio along the striae of Retzius.

Alternative configuration for an optical ring resonator angular rate sensor by using a standard laser diode.

In this work, we present an alternative approach to angular velocity optical sensing based on two-ring resonators. This configuration admits the use of a standard laser diode source (0.1 nm, 10,000 MHz, FWHM) reaching higher sensitivities when narrow spectral laser sources (1 MHz, FWHM) are used.

Femtosecond laser written surface waveguides fabricated in Nd:YAG ceramics.

Near surface channel waveguides have been fabricated in Neodymium doped YAG ceramics by using IR femtosecond laser irradiation at the low frequency regime. Single mode guidance has been demonstrated with propagation losses of ~1 dB/cm. Time resolved confocal micro-luminescence experiments have been used to determine the spectroscopic properties of the Nd(3+) laser ions in the channel waveguide as well as to elucidate the waveguide formation processes.

Synthesis of ceramic nanoparticles by ultrafast laser ablation of solid targets in water.

We report production of nanoparticles of several advanced ceramics (Si3N4, SiC, AlN, and Al2O3) by ablation with femtosecond laser pulses of solid targets submerged in deionized water. The products withstand comparison with commercial nanoparticle suspensions obtained by other techniques as they are analyzed by means of transmission electron microscopy. As compared with metal nanoparticles produced with the same technique, we have found that the overall dependence of mean sizes and distribution widths on the laser fluence is similar.