Effect of dual-frequency clutter suppression in harmonic Doppler detection

Background

High-frequency Doppler imaging is highly potential for detection of blood flow in microcirculation. In a swept-scan system, however, the spectral broadening of tissue clutter limits the detectability of low-velocity flow signal. Conventionally, the scanning speed of transducer has to be reduced to alleviate the clutter interference but at the cost of imaging frame rate. For example, the blood velocity of 0.5 mm/s becomes detectable only with a scanning speed lower than 1 mm/s. In this study, an alternative method is examined by suppressing the clutter magnitude to reduce the interference to flow signal without sacrificing scanning speed.

Methods

The method of third harmonic (3f₀) transmit phasing can suppress the tissue harmonic clutter by transmitting at the fundamental and the additional 3f₀ frequencies to achieve mutual cancellation between the frequency-sum and the frequency-difference components of the second harmonic signal. With 3f₀ transmit phasing, the cut-off frequency of wall filtering can be reduced to preserve low-velocity flow without compromising the frame rate.

Results

Our results indicate that the 3f₀ transmit phasing effectively reduces the harmonic clutter magnitude and thus improves the flow signal-to-clutter ratio. Compared to the conventional counterpart, the clutter-suppressed color flow and power Doppler images show fewer clutter artifacts and is capable of detecting more low-velocity flow of microbubbles. The resultant color-pixel-density also improves with clutter suppression.

Conclusion

For the swept-scan high-frequency (>20 MHz) system, 3f₀ transmit phasing is capable of providing effective clutter suppression. With the same achievable scanning speed, the resultant Doppler image has higher sensitivity for low-velocity flow and is less susceptible to clutter artifacts.     

Study on parameters influencing analytical performance of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy

Lens-to-sample distances, delay time, atmospheric condition, laser pulse energy, etc. had obvious effects on the analytical performance of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy. In this paper, these parameters are investigated in greater detail and we will explain how they have influences on the analytical performance. The results show that the focal plane under the sample surface can improve precision and detection limit, and the delay time should be decided according to sensitivity and accuracy. Spectral line intensity is stronger in argon than helium, nitrogen and air gas environment. Pulse energy should exceed energy threshold (about 50 mJ) which can generate plasma, and the energy should not exceed about 300 mJ to avoid plasma shielding. Under optimum parameters, concentration relative standard deviation of C, Si, Mn, P, S, Ni, and Cr for low-alloyed steel (sample number 11278) which were measured 11 times is 2.37%, 2.18%, 2.23%, 7.8%, 9.34%, 1.92%, and 2.13%, respectively. And the detection limit of C, Si, Mn, P, S, Ni, and Cr for pure steel is 0.0045%, 0.0072%, 0.0069%, 0.0027%, 0.0024%, 0.0047%, and 0.0024%, respectively.     

电场中Eu原子电离阈移动的实验研究

提出了一种新方法, 精确确定了稀土Eu原子第一电离阈的位置. 先用脉冲电场对Eu原子的高激发Rydberg态进行延时场电离探测, 再通过反向静电场排除光电离和自电离等其他路径所产生的离子信号的干扰, 观察并研究了Eu原子第一电离阈随着电场移动的规律. 由此所确定的零场下第一电离阈的数值与采用其他方法所确定的文献值^{[1, 2]}相一致, 从而验证了该方法的可靠性.     

Interaction between graphene and the surface of SiO2

The interaction between graphene and a SiO(2) surface has been analyzed with first-principles DFT calculations by constructing the different configurations based on α-quartz and cristobalite structures. The fact that single-layer graphene can stay stably on a SiO(2) surface is explained based on a general consideration of the configuration structures of the SiO(2) surface. It is found that the oxygen defect in a SiO(2) surface can shift the Fermi level of graphene down which opens up the mechanism of the hole-doping effect of graphene adsorbed on a SiO(2) surface observed in a lot of experiments.     

103 W in-band dual-end-pumped Ho:YAG laser

An efficient 2?μm in-band pumped Ho:YAG laser was demonstrated. The resonator involves two Ho:YAG crystals, each of which was dual-end-pumped by two orthogonally polarized diode-pumped Tm:YLF lasers. The maximum continuous wave output power of 103?W was achieved, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 67.8% with respect to the incident pump power and an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 63.5%. Under Q-switched mode, we obtained 101?W laser output at 30?kHz, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 66.2%. The beam quality or M² factor was found to be less than 2.     

A finite element model using multi-layered shell element in laser forming

Due to its enormously high flexibility laser forming has been gaining importance in recent years. This rapidness and flexibility demand very precise controlling strategies especially when simulating the process of large plates and challenging the limited computation power of the current workstation. A simple, robust and accurate modeling method of laser forming has been demonstrated to solve this problem. The simplified model is meshed by multi-layered shell element, simulated with a more real scanning method and fewer parameters. The intelligent meshing strategies have reduced the number of elements dramatically. Thus the simulation efficiency has been improved significantly. By comparing the simulation results under the simplified model with the results under the traditional model for laser forming, the applicability of proposed method has been proven. The method of these simplified models is also suitable to simulate complex finite element models, which take much time to simulate. It would throw some light on the thermal mechanically coupled-field simulation of large sheet.     

掺铁铌酸锂晶体中光致散射的锂组分和温度依赖关系研究

研究了单掺铁铌酸锂晶体的光致散射行为随锂组分以及温度的变化关系.实验表明,随晶体组分的升高,光致散射得到了大幅抑制;不同组分晶体光致散射被完全抑制的温度不同.由此提出掺铁铌酸锂晶体在48.9 mol%-49.3 mol%范围内可能存在一临界锂组分,当晶体组分超过这一临界组分时,晶体光致散射被大幅抑制,而光致散射行为的温度依赖关系明显改变.     

Nature of the high-pressure transition in Fe2O3 hematite

We present a new method to separate the crystallographic and electronic phase transitions in hematite using x-ray emission spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction. Our observations, based on the behavior of a metastable high-pressure phase in the stability domain of the low-pressure phase, show that the electronic transition is preempted by the crystallographic transition. The former occurs only afterwards in the high-pressure phase, possibly as a result of a Mott transition. The idea that the electronic transition drives the transition in hematite is therefore invalidated. Such methods should help elucidate the mechanics and the driving forces behind a number of first-order high-pressure phase transitions.     

Shape-dependent local internal stress of α-Cr2O3 nanocrystal fabricated by pulsed laser ablation

The α-Cr₂O₃ single-crystal nanocondensates were fabricated by pulsed laser ablation in air and characterized by analytical electron microscopy regarding shape-dependent local internal stress of the anisotropic crystal. The nanocondensates formed predominantly as rhombohedra with well-developed surfaces and occasionally hexagonal plate with thin edges and blunt corners. Such nanocondensates showed Raman shift for the CrO₆ polyhedra, indicating a local compressive stress up to ca. 4 GPa on the average. Careful analysis of the lattice fringes revealed a local compressive stress (0.5% strain) at the thin edge of the hexagonal plates and a local tensile stress (0.3–1.0% strain) near the relaxed , , and (0 0 0 1) surfaces of truncated rhombohedra. The combined effects of nanosize, capillarity force at sharp edge, and specific surface relaxation account for the retention of a local internal compressive stress built up in an anisotropic crystal during a very rapid heating–cooling process.     

He-BH碰撞体系微分截面的理论计算

用公认精确的密耦近似方法计算了入射能量从25至150 meV时,He原子与基态BH分子碰撞的弹性微分截面、非弹性微分截面和总微分截面,进一步讨论了微分截面的变化趋势及特征.计算结果表明：He-BH碰撞体系的总微分截面具有原子与双原子分子散射的一般规律和特征;随着入射能量的增加,低转动激发态-态微分截面在大角区的散射振荡现象会更加明显. 关键词： He-BH复合物 相互作用势 密耦近似 微分截面