Determination of airborne influenza virus and coronavirus infectivity using capsid integrity polymerase chain reaction.

Accurate airborne virus monitoring is important for preventing the spread of infectious diseases. Although standard reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) can efficiently detect viral ribonucleic acid (RNA), it cannot determine whether the RNA is associated with active (infectious) or inactive (non-infectious) viruses. Plaque assay is the gold standard for determining viral infectivity but is laborious and time-consuming.

Effect of partial coherence on dimensional measurement sensitivity for DUV scatterfield imaging microscopy.

Optical scatterfield imaging microscopy technique which has the capability of controlling scattered fields in the imaging mode is useful for quantitative nanoscale dimensional metrology that yields precise characterization of nanoscale features for semiconductor device manufacturing process control. To increase the sensitivity in the metrology using this method, it is required to optimize illumination and collection optics that enhance scatterfield signals from the nanoscale targets. Partial coherence of the optical imaging system is used not only for enhancing image quality in the traditional microscopy or lithography but also for increasing the sensitivity of the scatterfield imaging microscopy.

Measurement method for profiling the residual stress of an optical fiber: detailed analysis of off-focusing and beam-deflection effects.

The effects of off-focusing and beam deflection on polarimetric stress measurements of optical fibers are investigated. A simple method for reducing the distortion of the phase retardation caused by unwanted beam deflections in residual stress measurement is introduced. The method is examined numerically by ray-tracing techniques and experimentally by use of hollow silica fibers into which various index-matching liquids have been inserted.