Depth estimation of protoporphyrin IX objects in turbid media considering the fluorescence intensity ratio between two wavelengths of light for application in invasion diagnosis of gastric cancer

Optical Review - This paper demonstrates a method to estimate the depth of a fluorescence object in turbid media using dual-wavelength excited photodynamic diagnosis, to aid in the invasion depth...     

Theoretical analysis of correlation between ionization threshold fluence in IR‐MALDI and IR absorption spectrum of matrix molecules

To investigate the correlation between the wavelength dependence of ionization threshold fluence of target molecule in matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization by infrared (IR) laser and the IR absorption spectrum of matrix molecule, we have analyzed the IR absorption spectra of four matrix molecules using density functional theory and correlated ab initio molecular orbital method. The calculated IR absorption spectra of the isolated molecules showed more qualitative correlation with the wavelength dependence of ionization threshold fluence than those of the solid state structures. We can consider that a portion of matrix molecules lost the ordered crystal structure and that the transition to the diluted or isolated state occurred at the early process of IR laser irradiation. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Selective ablation of atherosclerotic lesions with less thermal damage by controlling the pulse structure of a quantum cascade laser in the 5.7-µm wavelength range

Cholesteryl esters are the main components of atherosclerotic plaques, and they have an absorption peak at the wavelength of 5.75 µm. To realize less-invasive ablation of the atherosclerotic plaques using a quasi-continuous wave (quasi-CW) quantum cascade laser (QCL), the thermal effects on normal vessels must be reduced. In this study, we attempted to reduce the thermal effects by controlling the pulse structure. The irradiation effects on rabbit atherosclerotic aortas using macro pulse irradiation (irradiation of pulses at intervals) and conventional quasi-CW irradiation were compared. The macro pulse width and the macro pulse interval were determined based on the thermal relaxation time of atherosclerotic and normal aortas in the oscillation wavelength of the QCL. The ablation depth increased and the coagulation width decreased using macro pulse irradiation. Moreover, difference in ablation depth between the atherosclerotic and normal rabbit aortas using macro pulse irradiation was confirmed. Therefore, the QCL in the 5.7-µm wavelength range with controlling the pulse structure was effective for less-invasive laser angioplasty.     

Determination of the scattering coefficient of biological tissue considering the wavelength and absorption dependence of the anisotropy factor

The anisotropy factor g, one of the optical properties of biological tissues, has a strong influence on the calculation of the scattering coefficient μ _s in inverse Monte Carlo (iMC) simulations. It has been reported that g has the wavelength and absorption dependence; however, few attempts have been made to calculate μ _s using g values by taking the wavelength and absorption dependence into account. In this study, the angular distributions of scattered light for biological tissue phantoms containing hemoglobin as a light absorber were measured by a goniometric optical setup at strongly (405 nm) and weakly (664 nm) absorbing wavelengths to obtain g. Subsequently, the optical properties were calculated with the measured values of g by integrating sphere measurements and an iMC simulation, and compared with the results obtained with a conventional g value of 0.9. The μ _s values with measured g were overestimated at the strongly absorbing wavelength, but underestimated at the weakly absorbing wavelength if 0.9 was used in the iMC simulation.     

Phase-shifting mask design for interference exposure of chirp blazed grating

An interference exposure system using a phase-shifting mask was proposed for generating periodic sawtooth optical intensity profile with chirp in period. Multiple space-harmonic waves are launched from the mask by diffraction, and the sawtooth optical intensity is formed by interference based on Fourier synthesis after propagation through an air gap. The design concept merely utilizing positive diffraction-order harmonics with tilt illumination of an exposure light and a design algorithm based on time-reversed configuration for calculating required phase shift amount were proposed and discussed. A phase-shifting mask for a blazed grating of very high chirp rate was designed to demonstrate its potential and feasibility. The grating period changes from 2.2 to 3.1 μm gradually within 0.3 mm length. Sawtooth-like optical intensity profile was confirmed by theoretical simulation as well as preliminary experimental results.     

Wavelength dependence of matrix-assisted laser desorption and ionization using a tunable mid-infrared laser

Matrix-assisted laser desorption and ionization by infrared laser (IR-MALDI) is expected to be an effective methods for soft-ionization of high-molecular weight proteins and intracellular proteins. IR-MALDI is not widely used because its low sensitivity, complexity, high cost, and as it does not work well on commercial MALDI time-of-flight mass spectrometers (TOFMSs). We employed a tunable mid-infrared (MIR) laser as a light source for MALDI to investigate the IR-MALDI. The laser wavelength can be tuned within a range from 5.5 to 10.0 μm, and included several biomaterial group vibration modes. We evaluated the wavelength dependence of ionization in IR-MALDI for four matrices: succinic acid, urea, 3,5-dimethoxy-4-hydroxycinnamic acid (sinapic acid) and 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid (DHB). These matrices contained various groups of vibration modes, and absorbed an infrared (IR) energy at a specific wavelength. The mass spectra of angiotensin II was obtained at a specific wavelength corresponding to the CO stretching and benzene ring vibration mode. In IR-MALDI, we considered the strong molecular bond attracting an electron from a neighboring hydrogen atom, possibly protonating the hydrogen atom.