Cancer radiotherapy based on femtosecond IR laser-beam filamentation yielding ultra-high dose rates and zero entrance dose.

Since the invention of cancer radiotherapy, its primary goal has been to maximize lethal radiation doses to the tumor volume while keeping the dose to surrounding healthy tissues at zero. Sadly, conventional radiation sources (γ or X rays, electrons) used for decades, including multiple or modulated beams, inevitably deposit the majority of their dose in front or behind the tumor, thus damaging healthy tissue and causing secondary cancers years after treatment. Even the most recent pioneering advances in costly proton or carbon ion therapies can not completely avoid dose buildup in front of the tumor volume.

Improved detection sensitivity of D-mannitol crystalline phase content using differential spectral phase shift terahertz spectroscopy measurements.

We report quantitative measurement of the relative proportion of δ- and β-D-mannitol crystalline phases inserted into polyethylene powder pellets, obtained by time-domain terahertz spectroscopy. Nine absorption bands have been identified from 0.2 THz to 2.

Fabrication and THz loss measurements of porous subwavelength fibers using a directional coupler method.

We report several strategies for the fabrication of porous subwavelength fibers using low density Polyethylene plastic for low-loss terahertz light transmission applications. We also characterize transmission losses of the fabricated fibers in terahertz using a novel non-destructive directional coupler method. Within this method a second fiber is translated along the length of the test fiber to probe the power attenuation of a guided mode.

A new two-photon-sensitive block copolymer nanocarrier.

Easily disrupted: Micelles of a new amphiphilic block copolymer that bear coumarin groups are sensitive to near infrared light by two-photon absorption of the chromophore. Disruption of the micelles under irradiation at 794 nm results in release of both photocleaved coumarin and encapsulated nile red from the hydrophobic core of micelle into aqueous solution, which results in opposing changes in fluorescence emission intensity.

Two-photon absorption cross section of excited phthalocyanines by a femtosecond Ti-sapphire laser.

In the past few years, photodynamic therapy (PDT) has become a major treatment for neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in which there is abnormal growth of choroidal neovasculature (CNV) that eventually obscures central vision, leading to blindness. However, one of the main limitations of current PDT is the relatively low specificity of the photosensitizer (PS) and light for pathological tissue which may induce damage to adjacent healthy tissue. An alternative approach to circumvent the specificity limitation is to improve the irradiation process.

On the dynamic viscous permeability tensor symmetry.

Based on a direct generalization of a proof given by Torquato for symmetry property in static regime, this express letter clarifies the reasons why the dynamic permeability tensor is symmetric for spatially periodic structures having symmetrical axes which do not coincide with orthogonal pairs being perpendicular to the axis of three-, four-, and sixfold symmetry. This somewhat nonintuitive property is illustrated by providing detailed numerical examples for a hexagonal lattice of solid cylinders in the asymptotic and frequency dependent regimes. It may be practically useful for numerical implementation validation and/or convergence assessment.

Impedance measurements around grazing incidence for nonlocally reacting thin porous layers.

For locally reacting materials with a constant surface impedance, a classical method based on the work of Chien and Soroka [J. Sound Vib. 43, 9-20 (1975)] for measuring this impedance in situ around grazing incidence is currently used.