Metrology with a twist: probing and sensing with vortex light.

Optical metrology is a well-established subject, dating back to early interferometry techniques utilizing light's linear momentum through fringes. In recent years, significant interest has arisen in using vortex light with orbital angular momentum (OAM), where the phase twists around a singular vortex in space or time. This has expanded metrology's boundaries to encompass highly sensitive chiral interactions between light and matter, three-dimensional motion detection via linear and rotational Doppler effects, and modal approaches surpassing the resolution limit for improved profiling and quantification.

Atomic force microscopy correlates mechanical and electrical properties of HepG2 cells with curcumin concentration.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a highly prevalent cancer with a significant impact on human health. Curcumin, a natural compound, induces cytoskeletal changes in liver cancer cells and modifies the distribution of lipids, proteins, and polysaccharides on plasma membranes, affecting their mechanical and electrical properties. In this study, we used nanomechanical indentation techniques and Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) based on atomic force microscopy (AFM) to investigate the changes in surface nanomechanical and electrical properties of nuclear and cytoplasmic regions of HepG2 cells in response to increasing curcumin concentrations.

Effects of microbubble pretreatment on physiochemical and microbial properties of excess activated sludge.

Fast increased amount of excess activated sludge (EAS) from wastewater treatment plants has aroused universal concerns on its environmental risks and demands for appropriate treatments, while effective treatment is dependent upon proper pretreatment. In this study, air-supplied microbubbles (air-MBs) with generated size of 25.18 to 28.

Controlling abruptly autofocusing vortex beams to mitigate crosstalk and vortex splitting in free-space optical communication.

Orbital angular momentum (OAM) mode crosstalk induced by atmospheric turbulence is a challenging phenomenon commonly occurring in OAM-based free-space optical (FSO) communication. Recent advances have facilitated new practicable methods using abruptly autofocusing light beams for weakening the turbulence effect on the FSO link. In this work, we show that a circular phase-locked Airy vortex beam array (AVBA) with sufficient elements has the inherent ability to form an abruptly autofocusing light beam carrying OAM, and its focusing properties can be controlled on demand by adjusting the topological charge values and locations of these vortices embedded in the array elements.

Inverse Gaussian gamma distribution model for turbulence-induced fading in free-space optical communication.

We introduce an alternative distribution to the gamma-gamma (GG) distribution, called inverse Gaussian gamma (IGG) distribution, which can efficiently describe moderate-to-strong irradiance fluctuations. The proposed stochastic model is based on a modulation process between small- and large-scale irradiance fluctuations, which are modeled by gamma and inverse Gaussian distributions, respectively. The model parameters of the IGG distribution are directly related to atmospheric parameters.

Scattering of aerosol particles by a Hermite-Gaussian beam in marine atmosphere.

Based on the complex-source-point method and the generalized Lorenz-Mie theory, the scattering properties and polarization of aerosol particles by a Hermite-Gaussian (HG) beam in marine atmosphere is investigated. The influences of beam mode, beam width, and humidity on the scattered field are analyzed numerically. Results indicate that when the number of HG beam modes u (v) increase, the radar cross section of aerosol particles alternating appears at maximum and minimum values in the forward and backward scattering, respectively, because of the special petal-shaped distribution of the HG beam.

Probability density of orbital angular momentum mode of autofocusing Airy beam carrying power-exponent-phase vortex through weak anisotropic atmosphere turbulence.

The probability densities of orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes of the autofocusing Airy beam (AAB) carrying power-exponent-phase vortex (PEPV) after passing through the weak anisotropic non-Kolmogorov turbulent atmosphere are theoretically formulated. It is found that the AAB carrying PEPV is the result of the weighted superposition of multiple OAM modes at differing positions within the beam cross-section, and the mutual crosstalk among different OAM modes will compensate the distortion of each OAM mode and be helpful for boosting the anti-jamming performance of the communication link. Based on numerical calculations, the role of the wavelength, waist width, topological charge and power order of PEPV in the probability density distribution variations of OAM modes of the AAB carrying PEPV is explored.

Nonlinear optical properties of sodium copper chlorophyllin in aqueous solution.

Background: Sodium copper chlorophyllin (SCC), as one of the derivatives of chlorophyll - with its inherent green features; good stability for heat, light, acids and alkalies; unique antimicrobial capability; and particular deodori zation performance - is widely applied in some fields such as the food industry, medicine and health care, daily cosmetic industry etc. SCC, as one of the metal porphyrins, has attracted much attention because of its unique electronic band structure and photon conversion performance. To promote the application of SCC in materials science; energy research and photonics, such as fast optical communications; and its use in nonlinear optical materials, solar photovoltaic cells, all-optical switches, optical limiters and saturable absorbers, great efforts should be dedicated to studying its nonlinear optical (NLO) properties.

Anisotropic power spectrum of refractive-index fluctuation in hypersonic turbulence.

An anisotropic power spectrum of the refractive-index fluctuation in hypersonic turbulence was obtained by processing the experimental image of the hypersonic plasma sheath and transforming the generalized anisotropic von Kármán spectrum. The power spectrum suggested here can provide as good a fit to measured spectrum data for hypersonic turbulence as that recorded from the nano-planar laser scattering image. Based on the newfound anisotropic hypersonic turbulence power spectrum, Rytov approximation was employed to establish the wave structure function and the spatial coherence radius model of electromagnetic beam propagation in hypersonic turbulence.

Propagation properties of an optical vortex carried by a Bessel-Gaussian beam in anisotropic turbulence.

Rytov theory was employed to establish the transmission model for the optical vortices carried by Bessel-Gaussian (BG) beams in weak anisotropic turbulence based on the generalized anisotropic von Karman spectrum. The influences of asymmetry anisotropic turbulence eddies and source parameters on the signal orbital angular momentum (OAM) mode detection probability of partially coherent BG beams in anisotropic turbulence were discussed. Anisotropic characteristics of the turbulence could enhance the OAM mode transmission performance.

Propagation of an optical vortex carried by a partially coherent Laguerre-Gaussian beam in turbulent ocean.

The analytical formulas for the orbital angular momentum (OAM) mode probability density, signal OAM mode detection probability, and spiral spectrum of partially coherent Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) beams with optical vortices propagation in weak horizontal oceanic turbulent channels were developed, based on the Rytov approximation theory. The effect of oceanic turbulence and beam source parameters on the propagation behavior of the optical vortices carried by partially coherent LG beams was investigated in detail. Our results indicated that optical turbulence in an ocean environment produced a much stronger effect on the optical vortex than that in an atmosphere environment; the effective range of the signal OAM mode of LG beams with a smaller ratio of the mode crosstalk was limited to only several tens of meters in turbulent ocean.

Nickel(II)-catalyzed enantioselective 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of azomethine imines with alkylidene malonates.

We demonstrated an asymmetric 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of azomethine betaines with alkylidene malonates by using a chiral N,N'-dioxide-Ni(II) complex as a catalyst. Both aromatic- and aliphatic-substituted alkylidene malonates were found to be suitable for the reaction. A range of trans-pyrazolone derivatives was exclusively obtained with excellent yields (up to 99% yield) and good enantioselectivities (up to 97% ee) under mild reaction conditions.