IVF embryos have historically been evaluated by morphological characteristics. The time-lapse system (TLS) has become a promising tool, providing an uninterrupted evaluation of morphological and ...dynamic parameters of embryo development. Furthermore, TLS sheds light on unknown phenomena such as direct cleavage and incomplete morula compaction. We retrospectively analyzed the morphology (Gardner Score) and morphokinetics (KIDScore) of 835 blastocysts grown in a TLS incubator (Embryoscope+), which were biopsied for preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A). Only the embryos that reached the blastocyst stage were included in this study and time-lapse videos were retrospectively reanalysed. According to the pattern of initial cleavages and morula compaction, the embryos were classified as: normal (NC) or abnormal (AC) cleavage, and fully (FCM) or partially compacted (PCM) morulae. No difference was found in early cleavage types or morula compaction patterns between female age groups (< 38, 38-40 and > 40 yo). Most of NC embryos resulted in FCM (≅ 60%), while no embryos with AC resulted in FCM. Aneuploidy rate of AC-PCM group did not differ from that of NC-FCM group in women < 38 yo, but aneuploidy was significantly higher in AC-PCM compared to NC-FCM of women > 40 yo. However, the quality of embryos was lower in AC-PCM blastocysts in women of all age ranges. Morphological and morphokinetic scores declined with increasing age, in the NC-PCM and AC-PCM groups, compared to the NC-FCM. Similar aneuploidy rates among NC-FCM and AC-PCM groups support the hypothesis that PCM in anomalous-cleaved embryos can represent a potential correction mechanism, even though lower morphological/morphokinetic scores are seen on AC-PCM. Therefore, both morphological and morphokinetic assessment should consider these embryonic development phenomena.
Using ultrafast ≃2.5 fs and ≃25 fs self-amplified spontaneous emission pulses of increasing intensity and a novel experimental scheme, we report the concurrent increase of stimulated emission in ...the forward direction and loss of out-of-beam diffraction contrast for a Co/Pd multilayer sample. The experimental results are quantitatively accounted for by a statistical description of the pulses in conjunction with the optical Bloch equations. The dependence of the stimulated sample response on the incident intensity, coherence time, and energy jitter of the employed pulses reveals the importance of increased control of x-ray free electron laser radiation.
We use femtosecond time-resolved hard x-ray scattering to detect coherent acoustic phonons generated during ultrafast laser excitation of ferromagnetic bcc Fe films grown on MgO(001). We observe the ...coherent longitudinal-acoustic phonons as a function of wave vector through analysis of the temporal oscillations in the x-ray scattering signal. The width of the extracted strain wave front associated with this coherent motion is ~ 100 fs. An effective electronic Gruneisen parameter is extracted within a two-temperature model. However, ab initio calculations show that the phonons are nonthermal on the time scale of the experiment, which calls into question the validity of extracting physical constants by fitting such a two-temperature model.
We have used a MHz lock-in x-ray spectromicroscopy technique to directly detect changes in magnetic moment of Cu due to spin injection from an adjacent Co layer. The elemental and chemical ...specificity of x rays allows us to distinguish two spin current induced effects. We detect the creation of transient magnetic moments of 3×10^{-5}μ_{B} on Cu atoms within the bulk of the 28 nm thick Cu film due to spin accumulation. The moment value is compared to predictions by Mott's two current model. We also observe that the hybridization induced existing magnetic moments at the Cu interface atoms are transiently increased by about 10% or 4×10^{-3}μ_{B} per atom. This reveals the dominance of spin-torque alignment over Joule heat induced disorder of the interfacial Cu moments during current flow.
Spin waves, the collective excitations of spins, can emerge as nonlinear solitons at the nanoscale when excited by an electrical current from a nanocontact. These solitons are expected to have ...essentially cylindrical symmetry (that is, s-like), but no direct experimental observation exists to confirm this picture. Using a high-sensitivity time-resolved magnetic X-ray microscopy with 50 ps temporal resolution and 35 nm spatial resolution, we are able to create a real-space spin-wave movie and observe the emergence of a localized soliton with a nodal line, that is, with p-like symmetry. Micromagnetic simulations explain the measurements and reveal that the symmetry of the soliton can be controlled by magnetic fields. Our results broaden the understanding of spin-wave dynamics at the nanoscale, with implications for the design of magnetic nanodevices.
Sub-picosecond magnetisation manipulation via femtosecond optical pumping has attracted wide attention ever since its original discovery in 1996. However, the spatial evolution of the magnetisation ...is not yet well understood, in part due to the difficulty in experimentally probing such rapid dynamics. Here, we find evidence of a universal rapid magnetic order recovery in ferrimagnets with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy via nonlinear magnon processes. We identify magnon localisation and coalescence processes, whereby localised magnetic textures nucleate and subsequently interact and grow in accordance with a power law formalism. A hydrodynamic representation of the numerical simulations indicates that the appearance of noncollinear magnetisation via optical pumping establishes exchange-mediated spin currents with an equivalent 100% spin polarised charge current density of 10
A cm
. Such large spin currents precipitate rapid recovery of magnetic order after optical pumping. The magnon processes discussed here provide new insights for the stabilization of desired meta-stable states.
Demagnetization in a thin film due to a terahertz pulse of magnetic field is investigated. Linearized Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert (LLG) equation in the Fourier space to describe the magnetization ...dynamics is derived, and spin wave time evolution is studied. Finally, the demagnetization due to spin wave dynamics and recent experimental observations on similar magnetic system is compared. As a result, the marginal role of spin wave dynamics in loss of magnetization is established.
We study the current-controlled modulation of a nanocontact spin-torque oscillator. Three principally different cases of frequency nonlinearity (d(2)f/dI(dc)(2) being zero, positive, and negative) ...are investigated. Standard nonlinear frequency-modulation theory is able to accurately describe the frequency shifts during modulation. However, the power of the modulated sidebands only agrees with calculations based on a recent theory of combined nonlinear frequency and amplitude modulation.
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