Illuminating Molecular Processes in Living Cells

Lately, scientists have explored approaches to developing fluorescent and/or bioluminescent indicators to pinpoint cellular processes in single living cells. These analytical methods have become a key technology for visualizing and detecting what was otherwise unseen in live cells. The target signaling included second messengers, protein phosphorylations, protein–protein interactions, and protein localizations.     

用于成像侦察的CCD探测器成像分辨力的探讨

通过对CCD探测器成像过程的模拟,分析了CCD成像在像元几何尺寸及成像灰度方面的数字离散化特征对CCD成像分辨力的影响,给出了CCD成像分辨力与CCD像元分辨力的关系,同时也给出了在相应情况下的调制度传递函数(MTF)的数值。     

用于同步辐射光源的成像板粉末衍射系统

报道了我们研制的一套成像板粉末衍射装置,对其误差来源进行了详细的分析讨论,并与衍射仪进行了比较.该装置的半径为143.3mm,最大测量角度范围不160°，最大角度(2q )偏差小于0.03°,这些性能指标已被实验所证实,完全可应用于粉末衍射全谱的测量.     

Time resolved spectroscopic NMR imaging using hyperpolarized Xe

We have visualized the melting and dissolution processes of xenon (Xe) ice into different solvents using the methods of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, imaging, and time resolved spectroscopic imaging by means of hyperpolarized ¹²⁹Xe. Starting from the initial condition of a hyperpolarized solid Xe layer frozen on top of an ethanol (ethanol/water) ice block we measured the Xe phase transitions as a function of time and temperature. In the pure ethanol sample, pieces of Xe ice first fall through the viscous ethanol to the bottom of the sample tube and then form a thin layer of liquid Xe/ethanol. The xenon atoms are trapped in this liquid layer up to room temperature and keep their magnetization over a time period of 11 min. In the ethanol/water mixture (80 vol%/20%), most of the polarized Xe liquid first stays on top of the ethanol/water ice block and then starts to penetrate into the pores and cracks of the ethanol/water ice block. In the final stage, nearly all the Xe polarization is in the gas phase above the liquid and trapped inside the pores. NMR spectra of homogeneous samples of pure ethanol containing thermally polarized Xe and the spectroscopic images of the melting process show that very high concentrations of hyperpolarized Xe (about half of the density of liquid Xe) can be stored or delivered in pure ethanol.     

激光水下偏振特性用于目标图像探测

利用激光水下偏振特性获得偏振差分图像(PDI),并运用PDI技术,从理论和实验上对水下目标探测进行了研究.介绍了PDI基本概念和实验系统原理,然后比较分析了不同条件下普通图像与PDI在辨别目标距离及其纹理上的差别和PDI中背景偏振光的影响,得出利用目标和背景偏振光的差异区分二者,从而提高探测距离的结论,并取得了较好的效果.在此基础上提出了通过处理有关PDI偏振参量来进一步辨别目标与背景的设想.     

第二讲合成孔径声纳成像及其研究进展

文章在介绍了图像声纳的特点、合成孔径声纳（synthetic aperture sonar,SAS）产生背景和发展过程的基础上,对合成孔径声纳的原理、技术难点、成像算法等问题进行了讨论.着重分析了合成孔径声纳成像过程中高分辨率的获取方法、水声信道对成像的影响、多子阵技术及其成像算法、稳定的声纳运动平台和运动监测问题、运动补偿与自聚焦方法等.文章还给出了国内外合成孔径声纳研究的最新进展情况,进而展望了合成孔径声纳的应用前景.     

Combined X-ray-electron imaging techniques: Limitations on lateral resolution

Capabilities of the imaging techniques, in which X-rays are converted to electrons and then the emitted electrons are registered by means of an electron microscope, are analyzed, the focus being on the factors limiting lateral resolution at the stage of electron emission. Bearing in mind the tendency to use harder synchrotron X-rays for some combined X-ray-electron microscopy methods, calculations were made for two significantly different X-ray energies: E = 1.828 keV (K-edge of Si) and E = 11.923 keV (L₃-edge of Au). By using Monte Carlo simulations of the electron trajectories beneath the surface of the sample we show that the radius of the spot from which photoelectrons are emitted could be as small as 1 nm. However, when proper account is taken of an entire electron cascade associated with the re-building of electron shells after photoelectron emission, spots more than one order of magnitude larger result, limiting the best lateral resolution to 20–30 nm.     

Chemical imaging in biology and medicine using ion microscopy

The ability to quantitatively map the distribution of elements on the micrometer scale and smaller with high sensitivity and isotopic discrimination is unique to ion microscopy. The information contained in ion images can be crucial to the study of the solid state, where chemical heterogeneity is often directly related to observed behavior. The tools of digital image processing allow the extraction of quantitative information from the image data. These techniques coupled with improved instrumentation for the detection of ion images drastically increase the problem solving capabilities of the ion microscope. The use of such methods and instrumentation in the ion microscopic analyses of cell cultures and tissues of biological and biomedical relevance will be discussed.     

InAs/GaSb superlattice focal plane arrays for high-resolution thermal imaging

The first fully operational mid-IR (3–5 μm) 256×256 IR-FPA camera system based on a type-II InAs/GaSb short-period superlattice showing an excellent noise equivalent temperature difference below 10 mK and a very uniform performance has been realized. We report on the development and fabrication of the detecor chip, i.e., epitaxy, processing technology and electro-optical characterization of fully integrated InAs/GaSb superlattice focal plane arrays. While the superlattice design employed for the first demonstrator camera yielded a quantum efficiency around 30%, a superlattice structure grown with a thicker active layer and an optimized V/III BEP ratio during growth of the InAs layers exhibits a significant increase in quantum efficiency. Quantitative responsivity measurements reveal a quantum efficiency of about 60% for InAs/GaSb superlattice focal plane arrays after implementing this design improvement. The paper presented there appears in Infrared Photoelectronics, edited by Antoni Rogalski, Eustace L. Dereniak, Fiodor F. Sizov, Proc. SPIE Vol. 5957, 595707 (2005).     

Simultaneous imaging of the structure and fluorescence of a supramolecular nanostructure formed by the coupling of π‐conjugated polymer chains in the intermolecular interaction

We fabricated a micrometer‐long supramolecular chain in which π‐conjugated polyrotaxane was coupled. A new experimental setup was designed and constructed, and the simultaneous direct imaging of the structure and fluorescent function was achieved. Furthermore, we identified the formation of a polymer intertwined network and observed novel fluorescence due to a long‐range interaction via this intertwined network over a distance of 5 μm or more without quenching over 15 min in the near field. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 801–809, 2006