Over the past few decades, significant attention has been paid to the biomedical applications of terahertz (THz) technology. Nowadays, THz spectroscopy and imaging have allowed numerous demanding ...problems in the biological, medical, food, plant and pharmaceutical sciences to be solved. Among the biomedical applications, the label-free diagnosis of malignant and benign neoplasms represents one of the most attractive branches of THz technology. Despite this attractiveness, THz diagnosis methods are still far from being ready for use in medical practice. In this review, we consider modern research results in the THz diagnosis of malignant and benign neoplasms, along with the topical research and engineering problems which restrain the translation of THz technology to clinics. We start by analyzing the common models of THz-wave-tissue interactions and the effects of tissue exposure to THz waves. Then, we discuss the existing modalities of THz spectroscopic and imaging systems, which have either already been applied in medical imaging, or hold strong potential. We summarize the earlier-reported and original results of the THz measurements of neoplasms with different nosology and localization. We pay attention to the origin of contrast between healthy and pathological tissues in the THz spectra and images, and discuss the prospects of THz technology in non-invasive, minimally invasive and intraoperative diagnosis, as well as in aiding histology. Finally, we review the challenging problems of THz diagnosis, as well as attempts to solve them, which should bring THz technology much closer to medical practice. This review allows one to objectively uncover the benefits and weaknesses of THz technology in the diagnosis of malignant and benign neoplasms.
Accurate low temperature charge transport measurements in combination with high-precision x-ray diffraction experiments have allowed detection of the symmetry lowering in the single domain ...Tm0.19Yb0.81B12 crystals that belong to the family of dodecaborides with metal-insulator transition. Based on the fine structure analysis we discover the formation of dynamic charge stripes within the semiconducting matrix of Tm0.19Yb0.81B12. The charge dynamics in these conducting nano-size channels is characterized by broad-band optical spectroscopy that allowed estimating the frequency (~2.4 × 1011 Hz) of quantum motion of the charge carriers. It is suggested that cooperative Jahn-Teller effect in the boron sublattice is a cause of the large-amplitude rattling modes of the Tm and Yb ions responsible for the 'modulation' of the conduction band along one of the directions through the variation of 5d-2p hybridization of electron states.
In this paper, we report on an approach for shaping the spectra of THz pulse generation in photoconductive antennas (PCAs) by frequency-dependent impedance modulation. We introduce a theoretical ...model describing the THz pulse generation in PCAs, and accounting for impedances of the photoconductor and of the antenna. Additionally we account a detector response for comparative analysis with experimental data. In order to showcase an impact of frequency-dependent impedance modulation on the spectra of THz pulse generation, we applied this model to simulating broadband PCAs with log-spiral topology. Finally, we fabricated two different log-spiral PCAs and characterized them experimentally using the THz pulsed spectroscopy. The observed results demonstrate agreement between the theoretical model and experiment, justifying the potential of shaping the spectra of THz pulse generation in PCAs by modulation of frequency-dependent impedances. This approach makes it possible to optimize PCA performance and thus accommodes the needs of THz pulsed spectroscopy and imaging in fundamental and applied branches of THz science and technology.
High refractive glasses in the La2O3–Nb2O5–B2O3 (LNB) system were synthesized by the melt-quenching technique and correlations between their compositions and structural features were clarified. It ...was found that the refraction index of the LNB glasses is tunable from 1.71 to 1.98 by the variation of the Nb2O5 fraction from 5 to 30 mol%. The infrared spectroscopy analysis implies on the presence of three and four coordinated borate units, as well as six coordinated niobium atoms. The X-ray absorption (La L3-edge and Nb K-edge XANES and EXAFS) spectroscopy and total X-ray scattering results show that niobium atoms maintain octahedral oxygen coordination despite the wide variation of the Nb2O5 content, while average lanthanum coordination number is versatile and changes from ~8 to ~10. The interatomic distance values testify that the niobium octahedra in the glass network are connected only “by corners”. The stability of niobium local atomic structure implies that the main source of the changes in the optical properties of studied glasses is the variation of the Nb2O5 content. The deeper understanding of the local atomic structure of the high refractive index LNB glasses paves ways for the development of new glass wafers for cutting-edge augmented reality devices.
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•High refractive index Nb2O5–La2O3–B2O3 glasses derived by the melt-quenched technique.•Local atomic structure of Nb and La studied by the X-ray synchrotron techniques.•Nb atomic structure weakly depends on the concentration of Nb2O5.•Nb octahedra connected “by corners” in the glass network.•Local atomic structure of La is sensitive to the concentration of Nb2O5.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Second half of the XX century was marked by a rapid development of sapphire shaped crystal growth technologies, driven by the demands for fast, low-cost, and technologically reliable methods of ...producing sapphire crystals of complex shape. Numerous techniques of shaped crystal growth from a melt have been proposed relying on the Stepanov concept of crystal shaping. In this review, we briefly describe the development of growth techniques, with a strong emphasize on those that yield sapphire crystals featuring high volumetric and surface quality. A favorable combination of physical properties of sapphire (superior hardness and tensile strength, impressive thermal conductivity and chemical inertness, high melting point and thermal shock resistance, transparency to electromagnetic waves in a wide spectral range) with advantages of shaped crystal growth techniques (primarily, an ability to produce sapphire crystals with a complex geometry of cross-section, along with high volumetric and surface quality) allows fabricating various instruments for waveguiding, sensing, and exposure technologies. We discuss recent developments of high-tech instruments, which are based on sapphire shaped crystals and vigorously employed in biomedical and material sciences, optics and photonics, nuclear physics and plasma sciences.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
Terahertz (THz) technology offers novel opportunities in the intraoperative neurodiagnosis. Recently, the significant progress was achieved in the study of brain gliomas and intact tissues, ...highlighting a potential for THz technology in the intraoperative delineation of tumor margins. However, a lack of physical models describing the THz dielectric permittivity of healthy and pathological brain tissues restrains the further progress in this field. In the present work, the
THz dielectric response of human brain tissues was analyzed using relaxation models of complex dielectric permittivity. Dielectric response of tissues was parametrized by a pair of the Debye relaxators and a pair of the overdamped-oscillators - namely, the double-Debye (DD) and double-overdamped-oscillator (DO) models. Both models accurately reproduce the experimental curves for the intact tissues and the WHO Grades I-IV gliomas. While the DD model is more common for THz biophotonics, the DO model is more physically rigorous, since it satisfies the sum rule. In this way, the DO model and the sum rule were, then, applied to estimate the content of water in intact tissues and gliomas
. The observed results agreed well with the earlier-reported data, justifying water as a main endogenous label of brain tumors in the THz range. The developed models can be used to describe completely the THz-wave - human brain tissues interactions in the frameworks of classical electrodynamics, being quite important for further research and developments in THz neurodiagnosis of tumors.
Transformations of the low-energy vibrational spectra are associated with structural changes in an analyte and closely related to the instability of weak chemical bounds. Terahertz (THz)/far-infrared ...optical spectroscopy is commonly used to probe such transformation, aimed at characterization of the underlying solid-phase chemical reactions in organic compounds. However, such studies usually provide quite qualitative information about the temperature- and time-dependent parameters of absorption peaks in dielectric spectra of an analyte. In this paper, an approach for quantitative analyses of the solid-phased chemical reactions based on the THz pulsed spectroscopy was developed. It involves studying an evolution of the sample optical properties, as a function of the analyte temperature and reaction time, and relies on the classical oscillator model, the sum rule, and the Arrhenius theory. The method allows one to determine the temperature-dependent reaction rate V
(T) and activation energy E
. To demonstrate the practical utility of this method, it was applied to study α-lactose monohydrate during its temperature-induced molecular decomposition. Analysis of the measured THz spectra revealed the increase of the reaction rate in the range of V
≃ ~9 × 10
-10
min
, when the analyte temperature rises from 313 to 393 K, while the Arrhenius activation energy is E
≃ ~45.4 kJ/mol. Thanks to a large number of obtained physical and chemical parameters, the developed approach expands capabilities of THz spectroscopy in chemical physics, analytical chemistry, and pharmaceutical industry.
A continuously-tunable terahertz (THz) bandpass filter based on the resonant electromagnetic-wave transmission through a metal-hole array featuring a gradually changing period was developed and ...fabricated on a silicon substrate using optical lithography. A gradient geometry of the metal-hole array yields a wide tunability of the filter transmission, when operating with a focussed THz beam. The filter was studied numerically, using the finite element method, and experimentally, using the THz pulsed spectroscopy. We find that the central wavelength of the filter transmission band can be tuned in the wide range of
λ
c
= 400–800
μ
m with the relative bandwidth of Δ
λ
/
λ
c
≃ ~0.4. Finally, Kapton-based anti-reflection coating was applied to the filter flat side, in order to suppress an interference pattern in the filter transmission spectrum. We believe that the developed filter holds strong potential for multispectral THz imaging and sensing due to its conceptual simplicity and case of operation. Moreover, the presented filter concept can be translated to other spectral ranges, where appropriate technologies are available for the fabrication of gradient sub-wavelength metal-hole arrays.
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