Brillouin spectroscopy and imaging has experienced a renaissance in recent years seeing vast improvements in methodology and increasing number of applications. With this resurgence has come the ...development of new spontaneous Brillouin instruments that often tout superior performance compared to established conventional systems such as tandem Fabry-Perot interferometers (TFPI). The performance of these new systems cannot always be thoroughly examined beyond the scope of the intended application, as applications often take precedence in reports. We therefore present evaluation of three modern Brillouin spectrometers: two VIPA-based spectrometers with wavelength-specific notch filters, and one scanning 6-pass TFPI. Performance analysis is presented along with a discussion about the dependence of measurements on excitation laser source and the various susceptibilities of each system.
The presence of certain proteins in biofluids such as synovial fluid, blood plasma, and saliva gives these fluids non-Newtonian viscoelastic properties. The amount of these protein macromolecules in ...biofluids is an important biomarker for the diagnosis of various health conditions, including Alzheimer's disease, cardiovascular disorders, and joint quality. However, existing technologies for measuring the behavior of macromolecules in biofluids have limitations, such as long turnaround times, complex protocols, and insufficient sensitivity. To address these issues, we propose non-contact, optical Brillouin and Raman spectroscopy to assess the viscoelasticity and chemistry of non-Newtonian solutions, respectively, at different temperatures in several minutes. In this work, bovine and human serum albumin solution-based biopolymers were studied to obtain both their collective dynamics and molecular chemical evolution across heat-driven phase transitions at various protein concentrations. The observed phase transitions at elevated temperatures could be fully delayed in heated biopolymers by appropriately raising the level of protein concentration. The non-contact optical monitoring of viscoelastic and chemical property evolution could represent novel potential mechano-chemical biomarkers for disease diagnosis and subsequent treatment applications, including hyperthermia.
Biomechanical properties of mammalian bones, such as strength, toughness, and plasticity, are essential for understanding how microscopic-scale mechanical features can link to macroscale bones' ...strength and fracture resistance. We employ Brillouin light scattering (BLS) microspectroscopy for local assessment of elastic properties of bones under compression and the efficacy of the tissue engineering approach based on heparin-conjugated fibrin (HCF) hydrogels, bone morphogenic proteins, and osteogenic stem cells in the regeneration of the bone tissues. BLS is noninvasive and label-free modality for probing viscoelastic properties of tissues that can give information on structure-function properties of normal and pathological tissues. Results showed that MCS and BPMs are critically important for regeneration of elastic and viscous properties, respectively, HCF gels containing combination of all factors had the best effect with complete defect regeneration at week nine after the implantation of bone grafts and that the bones with fully consolidated fractures have higher values of elastic moduli compared with defective bones.
•Four different metal oxide samples were irradiated by 167 MeV Xe ions at 1012 – 1014 ions/cm2 doses.•Depth dependent damage across swift heavy ion (SHI) impacted regions.•Nano- and micro-scale depth ...profiling of thermal transport by modulated MHz and kHz frequency thermoreflectance, respectively.•Various SHI damaged zones caused by ionization were simultaneously resolved.•Understanding of fission product-driven thermal transport in nuclear metal oxides for next generation nuclear reactor applications
We investigated thermal transport in swift heavy ion (SHI) irradiated insulating single crystalline oxide materials: yttrium aluminum garnet- Y3Al5O12 (YAG), sapphire (Al2O3), zinc oxide (ZnO) and magnesium oxide (MgO) irradiated by 167 MeV Xe ions at 1012 – 1014 ions/cm2 fluences. Depth profiling of the thermal transport on nano- and micro- meter scales was assessed by time-domain thermoreflectance (TDTR) and modulated thermoreflectance (MTR) methods, respectively. This combination allowed us to isolate the conductivities of different sub-surface damage-regions characterized by their distinct microstructure evolution regimes. Thermal conductivity degradation in SHI irradiated YAG and Al2O3 is attributed to formation of ion tracks and subsequent amorphization, while in ZnO and MgO it is mostly due to point defects. Additionally, notably lower conductivity when probed by very low penetrating thermal waves is consistent with surface hillock formation. An analytical model based on Klemens-Callaway method for thermal conductivity coupled with a simplified microstructure evolution capturing saturation in defect concentration was used to obtain depth dependent damage across the ion impacted region. The studies showed that YAG has the highest damage profile resulting in the less dependence of thermal conductivity with the depth, while MgO on the contrary has the strongest dependence. The presented work sheds new light on how SHI induced defects affect thermal transport degradation and recovery of oxide ceramics as promising candidates for next generation nuclear reactor applications.
Silicon nanowires (SiNWs) prepared by metal-assisted chemical etching of crystalline silicon wafers followed by deposition of plasmonic gold (Au) nanoparticles (NPs) were explored as templates for ...surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) from probe molecules of Methylene blue and Rhodamine B. The filling factor by pores (porosity) of SiNW arrays was found to control the SERS efficiency, and the maximal enhancement was observed for the samples with porosity of 55%, which corresponded to dense arrays of SiNWs. The obtained results are discussed in terms of the electromagnetic enhancement of SERS related to the localized surface plasmon resonances in Au-NPs on SiNW's surfaces accompanied with light scattering in the SiNW arrays. The observed SERS effect combined with the high stability of Au-NPs, scalability, and relatively simple preparation method are promising for the application of SiNW:Au-NP hybrid nanostructures as templates in molecular sensorics.
•First Raman thermometric measurement of thermal conductivity of films on bulk substrate.•A simple efficient method: a dozen of films on quartz can be examined in one hour.•The method works for any ...film with thickness h > Λ (phonon-mean-free path).•For h < Λ, this method works when the in-plane diffusive phonon transport dominates.
In contrast to known Raman-thermometric measurements of thermal conductivity (k) of suspended Si nano-membranes, here we apply Raman thermometry for k measurement of mono- and nano-crystalline Si films on quartz, which is important for applications in thermoelectricity and nanoelectronics. Experimentally, we measure linear dependence of the laser-induced Raman band downshift, which is proportional to the moderate heating ΔT, on the laser power P. Then we convert the downshift to ΔT and determine the ratio ΔT/P. The actual power absorbed by the film is calculated theoretically and controlled experimentally by the reflection/transmission measurement. Then we calculate ΔTcalc/P for arbitrary film k assuming diffusive phonon transport (DPT). Film k is determined from the condition ΔT/P = ΔTcalc/P. We show that this method works well for films with thickness h > Λ, where Λ is phonon-mean-free path, even for low-k films like nano-crystalline Si and SiGe. For h < Λ, despite ballistic phonon transport contribution, this approach works when the in-plane DPT dominates, e.g. in Si films on quartz with h ≥ 60 nm. We also show that the influence of thermal boundary resistance on the determined k is negligible at this condition. The proposed method is simple and time efficient, as dozen of films can be examined in one hour.
We present results on the photothermal (PT) and heat conductive properties of nanogranular silicon (Si) films synthesized by evaporation of colloidal droplets (drop-casting) of 100 ± 50 nm-sized ...crystalline Si nanoparticles (NP) deposited on glass substrates. Simulations of the absorbed light intensity and photo-induced temperature distribution across the Si NP films were carried out by using the Finite difference time domain (FDTD) and finite element mesh (FEM) modeling and the obtained data were compared with the local temperatures measured by micro-Raman spectroscopy and then was used for determining the heat conductivities k in the films of various thicknesses. The cubic-to-hexagonal phase transition in Si NP films caused by laser-induced heating was found to be heavily influenced by the film thickness and heat-conductive properties of glass substrate, on which the films were deposited. The k values in drop-casted Si nanogranular films were found to be in the range of lowest k of other types of nanostructurely voided Si films due to enhanced phonon scattering across inherently voided topology, weak NP-NP and NP-substrate interface bonding within nanogranular Si films.
•Melting of tungsten under orientation-dependent complex stresses was studied by MD.•Melting point increases (decreases) under applied compressive (tensional) stresses.•Melting point reaches minimum ...under applied pure shear stress.•Stress-dependent melting is supported by RDF, Lindeman and Born criteria.
Atomic-level insight into pre- and post- melting phenomena under complex stresses spanning compression, tension, and shearing in refractory metals is critical. The exploration of high temperature and melting behavior in tungsten under magnitude- and orientation-dependent uniaxial and biaxial compression and tension, approaching pure shear stresses was thoroughly investigated by molecular dynamics using extended Finnis-Sinclair potential. Using equilibrium solid-liquid coexistence simulations, we demonstrated the enhancement (reduction) of the melting point temperature Tm taking place with the increase of applied compression (tension) stress magnitudes, reaching a minimum under pure shear stress. Explored heating and melting behaviors under various stress types, magnitudes, and orientations were well supported by the corresponding trends in radial distribution function g(r) and Lindemann index δ. The highest resistance to melting was found under uniaxial compression likely due to bonds stiffening. On the other hand, the highest compliance to melting was revealed under pure shear stress, triggered by the accelerated vibrational instability and destruction of the bcc crystalline order driven by simultaneous shear deformation and formation of fcc and hcp phases.
Anisotropic thermal transport behavior was investigated in a single crystal sapphire patterned by vertically aligned few-nanometer diameter and several micrometer long cylindrical ion tracks. These ...ion tracks were introduced by exposing the sapphire to energetic ions of xenon accelerated to 167 MeV with fluences ranging from 1012 to 1014 ions/cm2. It was found that, in the low ion-track density regime, cross-plane thermal conductivity is larger, whereas in the high track density regime, the trend reverses and in-plane conductivity becomes larger. The crossover between these regimes is attributed to the interplay between phonon scattering with ion track boundaries and phonon confinement effects. In the low track density regime, the material is described by bulk phonon dispersion and anisotropy in thermal transport is attributed to the aligned nature of tracks that effectively reduce the mean free path of phonons traveling in the in-plane direction more than in the cross-plane direction. In the high-density regime, larger conductivity reduction in the cross-plane direction is consistent with previous observations, where the anisotropic reduction in thermal conductivity is owed to the anisotropic reduction of acoustic velocity caused by phonon confinement. Our results are further supported by an analytical model describing phonon mediated thermal transport.
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