A CT using longitudinally detected ESR (LODESR-CT) of intraperitoneally injected nitroxide radical in a rat's head

We have developed an in vivo longitudinally detected ESR (LODESR) imaging system operating at 700 MHz based on a loop-gap resonator and a pair of saddle-type pickup coils. A good linear relationship between the LODESR signal intensity and the applied power in a range up to 15.8 W was obtained. The detection of LODESR signals was barely affected by variations in the resonant properties. The characteristic of LODESR is suitable for in vivo examination. Using this system, we succeeded in obtaining LODESR-CT images of the head region of a rat after the intraperitoneal injection of a nitroxide radical.     

In vivo oximetry by a pulsed longitudinally detected ESR spectrometer

By using a narrow single electron spin resonance (ESR) line agent, triarylmethyl, tris(8-carboxy-2,2,6,6-tetrahydroxyethylbenzo[1,2-d:4,5-d′] bis(1,3)dithiole-4-yl)methyl sodium salt (TAM OX063), pulsed longitudinally detected ESR (LODESR) measurements of a phantom or the chest of a living mouse at the operating frequency of ca. 300 MHz were taken and the effective longitudinal relaxation time (T ₁^*) was estimated for oximetry. Under irradiation of a pair of π-pulses with a variable interval between pulses (τ), in-phase LODESR signal intensities were obtained from the phantoms containing TAM dissolved in a physiological saline solution at a concentration of 1 mM and various concentrations of oxygen. TheT ₁^* of the phantom was calculated from the plotted curve of the LODESR signal intensity against τ. It was found that the reciprocal ofT ₁^*, i.e., the longitudinal relaxation rate, increased with the concentration of oxygen. In vivo pulsed LODESR measurements of the chest of living mice that had received a TAM injection via the intraperitoneal route were made. While the LODESR measurements were being made, the mice in one group breathed normal air and those in another group breathed 100% oxygen. It was found that the longitudinal relaxation rate of the mice breathing 100% oxygen was significantly greater than that of mice breathing normal air, indicating that breathing 100% oxygen elevates the thoracic longitudinal relaxation rate.     

Impact of the Characteristic Impedance of Coaxial Lines on the Sensitivity of a 750-MHz Electronically Tunable EPR Resonator

A 750-MHz electronically tunable resonator was investigated in terms of the sensitivity of electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) signal detection. The conversion efficiency of the radio-frequency magnetic field was calculated for resonators with 50- and 100-Ω coaxial coupling lines using three-dimensional (3D) microwave field and microwave circuit simulators. Based on the simulation results, two tunable resonators were physically constructed and compared in terms of EPR signal sensitivity using a nitroxyl radical solution. While the resonator with 100-Ω coaxial lines provided 14% greater signal intensity, its signal-to-noise ratio was lower than that of the resonator with 50-Ω lines. To demonstrate the capability of the constructed tunable resonator for EPR imaging experiments, a solution of nitroxyl radical and the leg of a tumor-bearing mouse were visualized.     

Measuring method of longitudinally detected ESR signal intensities against resonant frequencies at 250 to 950 MHz in a constant microwave field

Signal intensities of longitudinally detected ESR (LODESR) of 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl powder were precisely measured at 250 to 950 MHz under a constant magnetic field microwave that was applied using a single-turn coil. The LODESR signal intensity was reduced linearly due to smaller Zeeman splitting. Because the noise level was constant, the sensitivity of LODESR was approximately proportional to the resonant frequency. As far as we know, this study represents the first attempt to measure precisely the relationship between the signal intensities and resonant frequencies of ESR in an experimental condition.     

带有增益的单微环谐振器的光速控制行为

带有损耗的光波导微环谐振器在实现光速控制时存在输出脉冲能量损耗大、脉冲形状畸变严重等问题。基于带有增益和带有损耗的微环谐振器的传输特性之间的对称性,计算分析了单微环谐振器的透射率、群折射率和群速度色散等特性,分析了增益和损耗对微环谐振器输出特性影响的机制。计算了带有增益的微环谐振器的光速控制行为,并与带有损耗的微环谐振器进行对比。结果显示,带有增益的微环谐振器输出脉冲不分裂且有较大的输出强度。脉冲延迟量和超前量比损耗系统大,可用于光速控制,克服了微环带有损耗时产生的光强损耗和脉冲畸变。     

In VivoLongitudinally Detected ESR Measurements at Microwave Regions of 300, 700, and 900 MHz in Rats Treated with a Nitroxide Radical

A signal detector of longitudinally detected ESR (LODESR) is independent of the resonant frequency. We developed anin vivoLODESR spectrometer operating in the regions of 300, 700, and 900 MHz. Using this apparatus, we estimated signal intensities at different operating frequencies obtained from non- or high-dielectric loss phantoms that contained nitroxide radical solutions and from live rats that had received a nitroxide radical. Our result, higher signal intensities in the high-dielectric loss samples (such as physiological saline solution and animals) at a lower frequency, shows that the influence of a decrease in dielectric loss dominates over the signal reduction caused by smaller Zeeman splitting. We believe that this finding strongly supports anin vivoESR resonant frequency that tends to be low.     

Influence of the lens effect in a sample with large dielectric constant in a loop-gap resonator on the EPR signal intensity at 700 MHz

The influence of the lens effect on the electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) signal intensity was investigated in a loop-gap resonator (LGR) with an inner diameter of 41 mm. TheQ- value and EPR signal intensity were measured when the phantoms containing 3-carbamoyl-2,2,5,5-tetramethyl-pyrrolidin-l-yloxy dissolved in sodium chloride aqueous solutions were put in the LGR. TheQ- value and signal intensity reduced with increasing concentrations of sodium chloride in the phantom, indicating that the imaginary part of the dielectric constant is larger in the phantom with the higher concentration of sodium chloride. However, relationships betweenQ-values of the resonator and EPR signal intensities were not proportional and signal intensities were relatively higher compared with theQ-values. These findings suggest that the signal reduction due to lowQ is slightly compensated by the lens effect in the sample with the large real part of the dielectric constant. In the distribution of the signal intensities of a pinpoint sample made of diphenylpicrylhydrazyl in the agar medium containing sodium chloride in the LGR, it was found that the signal intensity decreased according to the distance from the center and the difference in the signal intensity within 10 mm from the center was about 20%, indicating the inhomogeneity of the alternating magnetic field at the center and marginal region in the sample with the large dielectric constant caused by the lens effect.     

Parallel coil resonators for time-domain radiofrequency electron paramagnetic resonance imaging of biological objects

Resonators suitable for time-domain electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy and imaging at a radiofrequency capable of accommodating experimental animals such as mice are described. Design considerations included B(1) field homogeneity, optimal Q, spectral bandwidth, resonator ring-down, and sensitivity. Typically, a resonator with 25-mm diameter and 25-mm length was constructed by coupling 11 single loops in parallel with a separation of 2.5 mm. To minimize the resonator ring-down time and provide the necessary spectral bandwidth for in vivo imaging experiments, the Q was reduced predominantly by overcoupling. Capacitative coupling was utilized to minimize microphonic effects. The B(1) field in the resonator was mapped both radially and axially and found to be uniform and adequate for imaging studies. Imaging studies with phantom objects containing a narrow-line spin probe as well as in vivo objects administered with the spin probe show the suitability of these resonators for valid reproduction of the spin probe distribution in three dimensions. The fabrication of such resonators is simple and can be scaled up with relative ease to accommodate larger objects as well.     

Frequency dependence of EPR signal intensity, 250 MHz to 9.1 GHz

Experimental EPR signal intensities at 250 MHz, 1.5 GHz, and 9.1 GHz agree within experimental error with predictions from first principles. When both the resonator size and the sample size are scaled with the inverse of RF/microwave frequency, omega, the EPR signal at constant B(1) scales as omega(-1/4). Comparisons were made for three different samples in two pairs of loop gap resonators. Each pair was geometrically scaled by a factor of 6. One pair of resonators was scaled from 250 MHz to 1.5 GHz, and the other pair was scaled from 1.5 GHz to 9 GHz. All terms in the comparison were measured directly, and their uncertainties estimated. The theory predicts that the signal at the lower frequency will be larger than the signal at the higher frequency by the ratio 1.57. For 250 MHz to 1.5 GHz, the experimental ratio was 1.52 and for the 1.5-GHz to 9-GHz comparison the ratio was 1.14.     

微环谐振器

光学微环谐振器自从1969年作为滤波器件被提出以后,就受到了很大的关注。光学微环谐振器,可以作为一种通用设备用于实现通信与信号处理中的所有一般功能,比如滤波、复用／解复用、调制、开关、延时、门电路、路由、传感和放大等。小尺寸的微环有优异的特性：宽带宽、高精细度。这些特性非常有利于非线性光学应用。高的精细度意味着环中高的储存能量,而且可以通过进一步减小模场面积再次提高,并且不牺牲带宽。因为利用平面工艺易于获得微环,所以其非常适合大规模集成。简单介绍了微腔的概念,具体介绍了微环谐振器,以及马里兰大学的一些主要工作,最后分析了这种技术的挑战和发展前景。     

光纤环形谐振腔的频率锁定及其特性

基于可调分束比的光纤分束器,制作了光纤环形谐振腔并通过调节分束比实现了对光纤环形谐振腔的欠耦合、临界耦合和过耦合的状态控制.实验测量了腔最小反射率与腔损耗之间的关系,获得光纤环形谐振腔的腔内衰减率为κ_0=2π×(1.60±0.03) MHz ,品质因子为Q=(1.10±0.02)×10.8.在此基础上,结合了压电陶瓷拉伸光纤以控制腔长和Pound-Drever-Hall锁频两大技术优势,克服了之前温度反馈控制等方法的反馈带宽窄、噪声大和稳定性差等问题,实现了对光纤环形谐振腔共振频率的快速、灵敏的控制和锁定.结果表明,锁频过程中相位调制功率与相位调制引起腔反射光的强度调制之间的关系为线性关系,进而通过降低相位调制信号的功率以减小相位调制对腔反射光强度调制的影响.当调制功率设定最低为–9 dBm时,光纤环形谐振腔仍能被稳定锁定.该光纤环形谐振腔为其与原子、金刚石色心等发光粒子相互作用的腔量子电动力学实验研究奠定了坚实的基础.     

Photorefractive mode coupling between two unidirectional ring oscillators

We consider the coupling between two photorefractive unidirectional ring resonators. The first resonator is driven by an external laser beam via photorefractive two-wave mixing. The internal oscillating beam is then employed to drive the second ring resonator via the same mechanism. Closed form solutions for the oscillation intensities and frequencies are given, and their numerical results are presented and discussed.     

Use of multi-coil parallel-gap resonators for co-registration EPR/NMR imaging

This article reports experimental investigations on the use of RF resonators for continuous-wave electron paramagnetic resonance (cw-EPR) and proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging. We developed a composite resonator system with multi-coil parallel-gap resonators for co-registration EPR/NMR imaging. The resonance frequencies of each resonator were 21.8MHz for NMR and 670MHz for EPR. A smaller resonator (22mm in diameter) for use in EPR was placed coaxially in a larger resonator (40mm in diameter) for use in NMR. RF magnetic fields in the composite resonator system were visualized by measuring a homogeneous 4-hydroxy-2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-piperidinooxy (4-hydroxy-TEMPO) solution in a test tube. A phantom of five tubes containing distilled water and 4-hydroxy-TEMPO solution was also measured to demonstrate the potential usefulness of this composite resonator system in biomedical science. An image of unpaired electrons was obtained for 4-hydroxy-TEMPO in three tubes, and was successfully mapped on the proton image for five tubes. Technical problems in the implementation of a composite resonator system are discussed with regard to co-registration EPR/NMR imaging for animal experiments.     

Effect of resonator dimensions on nonlinear standing waves

An investigation of the effect of resonator dimensions on nonlinear standing waves in shaped resonators is conducted. Simple forms of the shear viscosity term in the momentum equations are developed for an axisymmetric (2D) resonator and a low aspect ratio rectangular (3D) resonator. The cross sections of the resonators are exponentially expanded and the one-dimensional wave equations are solved by using the Galerkin's method. The quality factors, pressure waveforms, compression ratios, and resonance frequencies are calculated for different dimensionless cross sections and lengths of the resonators. The results show that, apart from the resonator length, the ratio of the cross-section dimension to the length of the resonator is an important parameter. If the ratio is greater than 0.04, the characteristics of the shaped resonator are not affected significantly. However, when the ratio is less than 0.01, the resonance becomes weak, the compression ratio drops substantially, and the frequency response changes as well.     

铜壳涡流磁场的实验研究

本文介绍了模拟等离子体电流环电流在HL-1装置铜壳的1/4段上感应的涡流,在等离子体区产生的磁场大小、分布和时间特征的测量结果.涡流产生的垂直场随着等离子体电流环水平位移和电流上升率的增加而增加,而且在空间各点的大小和衰减时间常数都不相同。极向缝隙使涡流产生的垂直场和水平场沿大环方向呈周期性变化,环向缝隙对垂直场没有影响,但是却大大减弱了涡流产生的水平场。     

Development of Birdcage Resonators for the 3 Tesla NMR Imaging System

An optimized birdcage resonator configuration with a low-pass filter was designed and built to facilitate the acquisition of high-resolution three-dimensional images of small animals on the 3 T nuclear magnetic resonance imaging system. The birdcage resonator had a 12-element structure in order to ensure B ₁ homogeneity over the image volume and for obtaining the maximum filling factor. The quality of the manufactured birdcage resonators was evaluated on the basis of the return loss following the matching and tuning process. The experimental magnetic resonance images of the phantoms were obtained by the various manufactured birdcage resonators to compare the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in accordance with the size of the objects. The ratio of the size of an object to the size of the coil was identified by the parameters that were estimated from the images of a phantom. This study demonstrated that the SNR could be different depending on the size of the object even if birdcage resonators have the same cylindrical forms. Authors' address: Bo-Young Choe, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Kangnam St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, Catholic University of Korea, 505 Banpo-Dong, Seocho-Gu, Seoul 137-040, Korea     

Generalized analysis of multiple ring resonator filters: Modeling by using graphical approach

The filtering characteristics of multiple ring resonator (MRR) filters are modeled and investigated. The ring resonators of the MRR have identical perimeters and the coupling coefficients distribution provide passband characteristics with steeper roll-off, flatter top and greater stopband rejection than single ring resonator. The theoretical results are indicated that the optical loss in micro-rings has a strong influence on the characteristics of the MRR filters. A novel attempt has been made to employ a graphical approach in the analytical derivation of the optical transfer functions of MRR filters that can be represented in signal flow graph diagrams.     

光波导微环谐振器用于二进制格式变换研究

实验观测到了微环对入射二进制码的格式转换作用, 且这种转换作用对入射光波长具有强烈的依赖关系. 使用线性耦合模理论, 结合傅里叶变换以及电光马赫曾德强度调制作用, 理论再现了这一实验结果, 并通过使用简化的传递函数对此进行了解释. 理论分析还表明, 对于非临界耦合微环, 通过格式转换后波形的非对称性可以直观地判断微环的耦合状态, 即过耦合或欠耦合有不同的输出波形特点. 关键词： 微环谐振器 数据格式转换 耦合模方程 传递函数     

An active resonator system for CW-ESR measurement operating at 700 MHz

An active resonator system operating at 700 MHz, which can attain a high Q for CW-ESR measurements of a high loss sample, was developed. This system consisted of a loop-gap resonator (LGR), a receiver coil, an excitation coil, and a phase tunable amplifier. A part of the RF power at the LGR was picked up by the receiver coil, amplified, and irradiated to the LGR again by the excitation coil, which made up a feedback circuit. Because the feedback circuit provided the energy that canceled the loss in the resonator, the Q of the active resonator system increased. When a sample tube (inner diameter, 20 mm; axial length, 31 mm) containing a nitroxide radical and physiological saline solution was placed in the resonator, the Q could be varied from 55 to 4000. It was possible to obtain a Q of the active resonator system with sample that was higher than that of the value of the LGR without a sample in a no-feedback condition. The ESR signal intensity increased up to 7 times with the increase in Q. The sensitivity increased up to 50%, which was a much smaller advance than that of the Q, because the noise level also increased with the increase in signal intensity.     

Precise control of micro-rod resonator free spectral range via iterative laser annealing

We demonstrate a novel method to control the free spectral range(FSR) of silica micro-rod resonators precisely. This method is accomplished by iteratively applying laser annealing on the already-fabricated micro-rod resonators. Fine and repeatable increasing of resonator FSR is demonstrated, and the best resolution is smaller than 5 MHz, while the resonator quality-factor is only slightly affected by the iterative annealing procedure. Using the fabricated micro-rod resonators, single dissipative Kerr soliton microcombs are generated, and soliton repetition frequencies are tuned precisely by the iterative annealing process. The demonstrated method can be used for dual-comb spectroscopy and coherent optical communications.