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Thermophotovoltaics is a promising technology for heat recovery and has garnered tremendous attention in the last decades. This work theoretically evaluates the performance of a thermophotovoltaic system equipped with refractory all-ceramic selective thermal emitters made of boron carbide, silicon carbide and beryllium oxide for a high working temperature of 2000 ∘C, which corresponds to the external quantum efficiency of a SiC/Si tandem cell. The influence of thickness and filling ratio on the emissivity of thermal emitters over the wavelength ranging from 0.2 μm to 2.5 μm is studied. The corresponding spectral heat flux and output power are analyzed as well. For a specific configuration, the parameters for the thermophotovoltaic system are obtained, including short circuit current, open circuit voltage, fill factor, total heat flux, output power and conversion efficiency. The proposed all-ceramic thermal emitter ensures the robustness in the high-temperature working condition due to its thermal stability. The tuning of emissivity is achieved and analyzed based on distinct emitter nanostructures, and the further influence on the thermophotovoltaic system performance is deeply explored. This work sheds light on research of high-temperature thermal management and power generation.

A detailed investigation of the statistical properties of the near-field pressure fluctuations induced by an under-expanded jet, by varying the nozzle exit shapes has been presented. Experiments using different convergent Chevron nozzles were carried out in the anechoic chamber at the University of Bristol to assess the importance of the Chevron shape on the near pressure field emitted by a single stream under-expanded jet. Measurements were carried out through an axial microphone array traversed radially to various positions for jet in an under-expanded condition at Mach number M = 1.3. The intermittent behavior is investigated considering the standard statistical indicators and a wavelet-based conditional approach, including the phase angle. The intermittent degree of various features related to different scales, such as Screech tones and broadband shock associate noise were estimated. A series of recently developed wavelet-based tools were assessed as a viable approach to investigate the noise emitted by under-expanded jets.

King Yuk Chan, Rodica Ramer School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia Purpose: This article presents the study and simulation results of a millimeter (mm)-wave device for cancerous tissue detection. mm-Wave approach ensures cheaper equipment instead of the traditional terahertz (THz) frequency approach. A probe that could be implemented using inexpensive silicon technology is proposed, and it also permits integration of entire measuring tool for easy deployment. Skin cancer was chosen as it represents ~80% of all newly diagnosed cases and is the most common form of cancer in Australia. For an initial development and validation, due to data availability consideration in the open literature, basal cell carcinoma (BCC) was used for simulations. Methods and results: A probe, using high-frequency signals in the upper mm-wave frequency spectrum (90–300 GHz) to maximize the lateral resolution (mm precision) and allows the detection of tumors located at up to 0.5 mm deep in the skin, is proposed. A frequency-dependent relativity permittivity and an equivalent conductivity of skins were calculated based on the double Debye parameters. For the first time, electromagnetic (EM) models were generated and used along with a high-frequency EM simulator, ANSYS HFSS, to demonstrate the sensitivity of the concept. The following two scenarios were studied: in scenario one, a BCC layer of different thicknesses (10–3000 μm) was located on the top of the normal skin and, in scenario two, the BCC was embedded in normal skin at depths from 10 to 3000 μm. Variability using ±10% of the corresponding dielectric property was also considered. Conclusion: This study showed that the reflection coefficients vs frequency could capture useful information indicating the possible presence of BCC at mm-wave frequencies. Both magnitude and phase of the reflection coefficient were quantified, with two scenarios analyzed. It was found that a dual-band approach, 100–150 and 200–250 GHz, has the ability to highlight deviations from the normal skin. Keywords: millimeter wave, sensor, electromagnetics, near-field, continuous wave, diagnostic

A rigorous computational approach based on Green's second integral identity in the plane is used to calculate the transmission, reflection, and conversion into volume electromagnetic waves of a surface plasmon polariton incident on a nanoscale one-dimensional surface defect on an otherwise planar interface between vacuum and a lossy metal. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3499248]

Terahertz waves are located in the frequency band between radio waves and light, and they are being considered for various applications as a light source. Generally, the use of light requires focusing; however, when a terahertz wave is irradiated onto a small detector or a small measurement sample, its wavelength, which is much longer than that of visible light, causes problems. The diffraction limit may make it impossible to focus the terahertz light down to the desired range by using common lenses. The Bull’s Eye structure, which is a plasmonic structure, is a promising tool for focusing the terahertz light beyond the diffraction limit and into the sub-wavelength region. By utilizing the surface plasmon propagation, the electric field intensity and transmission coefficient can be enhanced. In this study, we improved the electric field intensity and light focusing in a small region by adapting the solid immersion method (SIM) from our previous study, which had a frequency-tunable nonconcentric Bull’s Eye structure. Through electromagnetic field analysis, the electric field intensity was confirmed to be approximately 20 times higher than that of the case without the SIM, and the transmission measurements confirmed that the transmission through an aperture had a gap of 1/20 that of the wavelength. This fabricated device can be used in imaging and sensing applications because of the close contact between the transmission aperture and the measurement sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Further and more detailed experimental work demonstrates an anomalous transfer of modulation between two microwave beams in the near-field and confirms the results already obtained. The behavior of the measured signal versus the attenuation of each beam intensity suggests a model based on the existence of hybrid terms containing the product of both the relative field amplitudes. In addition, the undulating shape of the signal suggests the presence of stochastic processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present publication investigates the optical scattering behavior of an artificial near-field coupled double-resonant plasmonic molecule on a glass substrate formed by a linear arrangement of three gold nanobars. The aim of the proposed symmetrical structure arrangement is to achieve a significant increase in the feedback of optically induced coherent mechanical oscillations on the scattering cross-section. Based on the description of isolated dipole-like plasmonic nanostructures, it is shown how an increase of the modulation strength can be achieved by systematic utilization and modification of the inherent near-field coupling effect. It is shown which differences exist compared to an isolated plasmonic nanostructure, especially for the NIR spectral range. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first investigation showing the behavior of coherent acoustic vibrations in such artificial plasmonic molecules at an optical carrier wavelength of 1560 nm which is particularly interesting for applications in the field of optical communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A practical readily embeddable proximity sensor based on a leaky coaxial cable (LCX) is proposed for detecting the presence and position of hands on a steering wheel. Different LCX configurations are analyzed both numerically and experimentally. For numeric simulations, the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method is applied to a square cross-section leaky coaxial cable. A comparable-sized 3D-printed LCX with various configurations is also measured to verify the design of the sensor. Based on those numerical and experimental results, a prototype steering wheel proximity sensor is designed, fabricated, and then embedded into a Honda 2013 Acura MDX steering wheel. Through the use of a network analyzer and the inverse discrete Fourier Transform, the hand position information is obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider the recently proposed extra-large scale massive multiple-input multiple-output (XL-MIMO) systems, with some hundreds of antennas serving a smaller number of users. Since the array length is of the same order as the distance to the users, the long-term fading coefficients of a given user vary with the different antennas at the base station (BS). Thus, the signal transmitted by some antennas might reach the user with much more power than that transmitted by some others. From a green perspective, it is not effective to simultaneously activate hundreds or even thousands of antennas, since the power-hungry radio frequency (RF) chains of the active antennas increase significantly the total energy consumption. Besides, a larger number of selected antennas increases the power required by linear processing, such as precoding matrix computation, and short-term channel estimation. In this paper, we propose four antenna selection (AS) approaches to be deployed in XL-MIMO systems aiming at maximizing the total energy efficiency (EE). Besides, employing some simplifying assumptions, we derive a closed-form analytical expression for the EE of the XL-MIMO system, and propose a straightforward iterative method to determine the optimal number of selected antennas able to maximize it. The proposed AS schemes are based solely on long-term fading parameters, thus, the selected antennas set remains valid for a relatively large time/frequency intervals. Comparing the results, we find that the genetic-algorithm based AS scheme usually achieves the best EE performance, although our proposed highest normalized received power AS scheme also achieves very promising EE performance in a simple and straightforward way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS) are widely used for the investigation of nanoscale materials. One of the most critical aspects of both SERS and TERS is the control of both the plasmon and molecular resonance precisely. Here, we demonstrate single-molecule TERS under molecular resonance conditions using a scanning tunneling microscope. This was achieved by placing the molecule on a sodium chloride (NaCl) film in order to directly compare the absorption with Raman excitation spectra. Varying the NaCl film thickness changes the degree of screening effect from the metal surface, which leads to a variation of the molecular resonance phenomena. Although it is generally accepted that the target molecule should be directly attached to the metal surface in SERS, our observation using TERS suggests that this is not always optimal, especially under molecular resonance Raman conditions. Our work demonstrates the possibility of controlling molecular resonance by carefully modifying the local environment. This will be useful for future investigation of isolated single molecules or even two-dimensional molecular assemblies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Near- and far-fields of quantum-cascade lasers emitting in the spectral range near 8 μm have been studied. For all laser samples with a ridge width of 20 and 50 μm, lasing on the fundamental waveguide mode with a divergence of ~50° was observed for all laser samples with a ridge width of 20 and 50 μm along the "fast" axis. Along the "slow" axis, a multimode lasing and a competition between the fundamental and higher waveguide modes, which is manifested for lasers with a ridge width of 50 μm in an increase in the emission divergence from ~10° near the threshold to >50° when the lasing threshold is exceeded by a factor of 2–3. The divergence along the "slow" axis for lasers with ridge width of 22 μm remained invariable in the whole range of pumping currents and equaled ~50°. That there is a substantial contribution from the fundamental mode to the total emission intensity of quantum-cascade lasers, which is apparent from the far-field intensity distribution pattern, cannot be established exclusively on the basis of results obtained in near-field measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of the nested array has been used widely for underdetermined far-field source localization. In this case, the enhanced degrees-of-freedom (DOFs) is often achieved by using spatial smoothing because the difference co-array of a two-level nested array behaves like a uniformly-spaced linear array (ULA). This ingenious operation cannot be used for near-field localization because the ULA behavior of the co-array is violated by the near-field’s curved wavefronts and range-dependent attenuation. Thus, the application of nested arrays for near-field localization becomes challenging. In this letter, we propose to concatenate the vectorization of multiple fourth-order cumulant matrices to increase the DOFs offered by the nested arrays. We also show that when the sources are in the near-field, the maximum DOFs provided by a two-level nested array with $L$ physical sensors can mathematically be up to exactly $L^{2}$. The well-posed identification conditions are discussed as well. Numerical examples are conducted to verify our analysis. Comparisons with existing ULA-based methods are also provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work we address the distance dependence of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS). As differentiating factor to other works in the literature, we focus on the array near-field, what allows us to comprehend and expose the promising potential of RIS. The latter mostly implies an interplay between the physical size of the RIS and the size of the Fresnel zones at the RIS location, highlighting the major role of the phase. To be specific, the point-like (or zero-dimensional) conventional scattering characterization results in the well-known dependence with the fourth power of the distance. On the contrary, the characterization of its near-field region exposes a reflective behavior following a dependence with the second and third power of distance, respectively, for a two-dimensional (planar) and one-dimensional (linear) RIS. Furthermore, a smart RIS implementing an optimized phase control can result in a power exponent of four that, paradoxically, outperforms free-space propagation when operated in its near-field vicinity. All these features have a major impact on the practical applicability of the RIS concept. As one contribution of this work, the article concludes by presenting a complete signal characterization for a wireless link in the presence of RIS on all such regions of operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: In this paper, concentric braced frames are combined with moment‐resisting frame (MRF) as a dual system subjected to near‐field (NF) pulse‐like and far‐field ground motions. The braced frame in this system configuration consists of steel buckling‐restrained braces (BRB model), braces with shape memory alloy (SMA model), or combination of BRB and SMA braces (COMBINED model). Some prototype structures of the proposed systems are designed according to the code recommendations. Then, the nonlinear models of the considered structures are developed in SeismoStruct software, and nonlinear time history analysis (NLTHA) is implemented. NLTHA is performed subjected to earthquake record sets at maximum considered earthquake (MCE) and design base earthquake (DBE) levels, and responses of the systems are investigated and compared with each other. Among the examined models, the SMA and COMBINED models exceed the CP level subjected to NF‐MCE record set. Therefore, more investigation is needed for using short‐segment SMA braces in the dual‐steel frames in NF area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Near-fault events can cause severe damage to civil structures, including bridges. Many studies have demonstrated that the seismic assessment is not straightforward. Usually, dealing with near-fault ground motion, the structural analysis is performed using Nonlinear Response-History Analysis (NRHA) but in the last years, many authors have tested existing pushover-based procedures originally developed and validated using far-field events. Between those procedures, the Incremental Modal Pushover Analysis (IMPAβ) is a pushover-based procedure specifically developed for bridges that, in this work, was applied to a case study considering near-fault pulse-like ground motion records. The records were analyzed and selected from the European Strong Motion Database. In the paper the results obtained with IMPAβ together with other standard pushover procedures, are compared with NRHA and incremental dynamic analyses; the vertical component of the motion has been also considered. Results obtained with the bridge case study demonstrate that the vertical seismic action has a minor influence on the structural response and that IMPAβ is confirmed as a very effective pushover-based method that can be applied also for near-fault events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The design and analysis of protective systems requires a detailed understanding of, and the ability to accurately predict, the distribution of pressure loads acting on an obstacle following an explosive detonation. In particular, there is a pressing need for accurate characterisation of blast loads in the region very close to a detonation, where even small improvised devices can produce serious structural or material damage. Objective: Accurate experimental measurement of these near-field blast events, using intrusive methods, is demanding owing to the high magnitudes (> 100 MPa) and short durations (< 1 ms) of loading. The objective of this article is to develop a non-intrusive method for measuring reflected blast pressure distributions using image analysis. Methods: This article presents results from high speed video analysis of near-field spherical PE4 explosive blasts. The Canny edge detection algorithm is used to track the outer surface of the explosive fireball, with the results used to derive a velocity-radius relationship. Reflected pressure distributions are calculated using this velocity-radius relationship in conjunction with the Rankine-Hugoniot jump conditions. Results: The indirectly measured pressure distributions from high speed video are compared with directly measured pressure distributions and are shown to be in good qualitative agreement with respect to distribution of reflected pressures, and in good quantitative agreement with peak reflected pressures (within 10% of the maximum recorded value). Conclusions: The results indicate that it is possible to accurately measure blast loads in the order of 100s MPa using techniques which do not require sensitive recording equipment to be located close to the source of the explosion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a microwave microscope for nondestructive evaluation of biological tissues using a near-field probe is described. For this purpose, a near-field probe to obtain microwave image with high resolution at 18.6 GHz is designed and the proposed method is experimentally evaluated in reflectometry imaging scenarios involving different tissues of raw chicken. We employ the technique to detect hidden sebaceous glands below the skin. In this regard, a 2D image of hidden sebaceous glands is provided using changes in the amplitude of reflection coefficient at resonant frequency. Measurement results show that the probe could accurately detect the hidden sebaceous glands with at least 20 dB magnitude and more than 600 MHz frequency shifts contrast. Also, the results show strong implications in a wide range of subsurface detection challenges including detection of biological anomalies in human tissues such as detection of small tumors below of human skin in the early-stage detection of skin cancers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assuming that the bottom soil of the foundation is rigid and exibility effect is ignored, the seismic response of a structure is inuenced by its dynamic properties and soil exibility does not affect the mentioned response. Hence, considering the analytical results only based on the fixed base buildings can result in an unsafe structure design. Therefore, near-field earthquakes produce many seismic needs to force the structure to dissipate this input energy with relatively large displacements. Accordingly, the primary objective of the present paper is to determine the seismic response of the 3-, 5-, and 8-story steel buildings with the special moment frame system, considering the soil-structure interaction and panel zone modeling. To this end, selected records of the near- and far-field earthquakes were used to facilitate the nonlinear time history analysis of the structures, whose responses to earthquakes were compared in both of the mentioned states. The results showed that the average drift of all three structures under the effect of near-field earthquakes was two times larger than the drift of the structures under the effect of the far-field earthquakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In array signal processing, source-sensor amplitude responses are in general assumed to be in equality and signal parameters are estimated by exploiting spatial phase difference caused by propagation delay. This is unrealistic when sources are located in the near-field of the array. In near field, array sensors’ amplitude responses are inversely proportional to the radial distance from the sources. This spatial amplitude ratio is exploited for near-field parameter estimation in this letter. We derive an angle, range and polarization parameters estimation algorithm for multiple polarized sources using a linear cocentered orthogonal loop and dipole (COLD) array. We define the algorithm’s name as SPatial Amplitude Ratio based Estimator (SPARE). Compared with previous phase-based algorithms, SPARE has the following advantages: (1) it is closed-form, non-iterative, and search-free, (2) it is applicable to irregular array geometry, and has no restrict on minimum sensor-spacing, since array sensors’ amplitude responses are necessarily unambiguous, and (3) it can be applied to the arrays with phase uncertainties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability of extremely and very low frequency (ELF/VLF, 0–30 kHz) radio waves to penetrate conductive media is well established. Magnetic field penetration into a thin but highly conductive box using an ELF/VLF loop antenna transmitter is investigated. The work is relevant for electromagnetic shielding of ELF/VLF sensors, defect detection, inductive power transfer, and through container imaging. Analytical solutions are reviewed for related shielding problems, however, determining the penetration through a realistic shield geometry and finite sized near-field source requires a numerical approach. Surface integral equation (SIE) methods are well suited for shield modeling due to the low surface area to volume ratio of the shield. Method of moment techniques have been successfully applied to solving SIEs in the past, however, enforcing algorithm stability at low frequencies is known to require considerable effort. To alleviate the low-frequency concerns, a high-order locally corrected Nyström (LCN) scheme is utilized to solve an SIE based on an augmented Müller formulation of Maxwell's equations. To validate the LCN simulations, an experiment is conducted using a loop antenna inside a 1.2 m aluminum cube of 2.7 mm thickness with an external ELF/VLF loop transmitter. Experimental results are shown to match within 3 dB of the LCN code predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel generic two dimensional (2D) sparse multiple-input-multiple (MIMO) topology is proposed. Based on this topology, a real-time, compact demonstrator is realized at millimeter-wave range with narrow frequency band. It shows that the topology reduces hardware effort. Theoretical and experimental studies of focusing characteristics of the demonstrator are performed. These studies demonstrate that the proposed topology provides comparable focusing capabilities to another novel topology such as curvilinear configuration. Imaging capability of the proposed array is experimentally demonstrated. It is shown that the demonstrator is favorable to be employed on mobile platforms for fast and accurate imaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finite element method (FEM) simulations have been carried out on free-standing and finite dielectric substrate-supported eccentric (i) silica core-gold nanoshell dimers and (ii) gold core-silica nanoshell dimers for understanding their near- and far-field plasmonic properties. In the case of eccentric silica core-gold nanoshell dimers, multiple peaks are observed in the near- and far-field spectra due to the plasmon hybridization. The number of peaks is found to be sensitive to the core offset parameters of the nanoshells forming nanodimer. The wavelength locations of the peaks due to the constructive coupling of the lower order modes found relatively more sensitive to the dielectric substrate. The number of peaks in the near- and far-field spectra found the same presence and absence of the dielectric substrate. The values of full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the peaks observed in the near-field spectra are found larger as compared to those observed in the far-field spectra. In contrast, in the case of eccentric gold core-silica nanoshell dimers, multiple peaks have not been observed. The FWHM of the observed peak is found sensitive to the core offset parameters of the nanoshells, and the number of peaks in the near field- and far-field spectra found not same in the presence and absence of the dielectric substrate. Moreover, the differences in near- and far-field spectra of plasmonically coupled (i) concentric nanoshells, (ii) eccentric nanoshells, and (iii) concentric and eccentric nanoshells also investigated numerically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Some typical cases of tunneling and near‐field propagation experiments, carried out mainly in the microwave, but also in the optical range, giving rise to superluminal behavior, are re‐examined. The several types of superluminal behavior are classified and an attempt is made searching for a unified interpretation. Within this context, the role played by the "weak measurement" theory is also evidenced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a general and comprehensive approach to evaluate spatio-temporal localized energy around radiating structures of arbitrary shapes and excitation signals. The method utilizes the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) algorithm to calculate the Poynting localized energy for any antenna by working directly with computed fields, rather than source currents. It is established that this localized energy is fundamentally different from the classical antenna reactive energy associated with frequency-domain Q-factors of electrically small antennas. The proposed localized energy theory leads to the formulation of new performance evaluation measures, effectively going beyond traditional S-parameters and far-field patterns, which are then applied in several design examples involving strongly coupled arrays and weakly coupled antenna systems. It was found that gain enhancement caused by strong mutual coupling in the near zone (directors in Yagi-Uda systems or split-ring resonator arrays) is closely correlated with localized energy enhancement (but such correlation does not hold in weak mutual coupling scenarios). The new performance metrics are also used to generate spatial distributions for energy localization in MIMO printed dipoles. We propose that this proposed localized energy concept and the apparatus developed to investigate its relevant new data can assist in implementation of ultrahigh gain closely spaced antenna elements needed for the upcoming sub-6 GHz/mmWave 5G MIMO systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a case of wide‐complex tachycardia in which the clinical electrophysiological diagnosis was considered to be bundle branch re‐entry ventricular tachycardia. A series of ventricular entrainment attempts were performed from the left and right ventricular septum to confirm the diagnosis. Entrainment pacing with a general current output (10 mA) was performed from the right ventricular septum with manifest fusion and a post‐pacing interval similar to tachycardia cycle length. Thereafter, another entrainment attempt with a greater current output (20 mA) was performed from the same site. Paradoxically, concealed fusion was demonstrated by selective RB capture only, though there was no clear "RB" potential seen. In this case, we attempt to explain and illustrate the mechanism of paradoxical near‐field inability to capture with increasing current strength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-directivity antenna systems that provide 2-D beam steering by rotating a pair of phase-gradient metasurfaces (PGMs) in the near field of a fixed-beam antenna, hereafter referred to as near-field meta-steering systems, are efficient, planar, simple, short, require less power to operate, and do not require antenna tilting. However, when steering the beam, such systems generate undesirable dominant grating lobes, which substantially limit their applications. Optimizing a pair of these metasurfaces to minimize the grating lobes using standard methods is nearly impossible due to their large electrical size and thousands of small features leading to high computational costs. This article addresses this challenge as follows. First, it presents a method to efficiently reduce the strength of “offending” grating lobes by optimizing a supercell using Floquet analysis and multi-objective particle swarm optimization. Second, it investigates the effects of the transmission phase gradient of PGMs on radiation-pattern quality. It is shown that the number of dominant unwanted lobes in a 2-D beam-steering antenna system and their levels can be reduced substantially by increasing the transmission phase gradient of the two PGMs. This knowledge is then extended to 2-D beam-steering systems, where we demonstrate how to substantially reduce all grating lobes to a level below −20 dB for all beam directions, without applying any amplitude tapering to the aperture field. When steering the beam of two meta-steering systems with peak directivities of 30.5 and 31.4 dBi, within a conical volume with an apex angle of 96°, the variation in directivity is 2.4 and 3.2 dB, respectively. We also demonstrate that beam-steering systems with steeper gradient PGMs can steer the beam in a wider range of directions, require less mechanical rotation of metasurfaces to obtain a given scan range, and their beam steering is faster. The gap between the two metasurfaces in a near-field meta-steering system can be reduced to one-eighth of a wavelength with no significant effect on pattern quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Insights into the pharmacologic effect on cellular processes and the potential toxicological effects are vital to new drug development and evaluation, yet research on these subjects remains a great challenge due to the lack of information regarding the spatiotemporal distribution of drugs and metabolites within a single cell. Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) has proven to be a label-free and high-throughput approach for visualizing drug distribution in spatial and temporal domains. However, single-cell drug imaging has been limited so far by detection sensitivity and microscale lateral resolution. Herein, we report near-field laser desorption/laser postionization mass spectrometry (NDPI-MS) for single-cell imaging of two structurally similar drugs, proflavine and ethacridine, and subcellular distributions of proflavine at different drug concentrations were investigated. The NDPI-MS imaging results indicate that proflavine was accumulated in lysosomes, which was verified by laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM). Additionally, a distinguished subcellular distribution pattern of ethacridine from proflavine could be visualized, highlighting the complexity of the interaction between the drugs and biological environment even though these two drugs possess similar structures. Taken together, the present results demonstrate the great potential of the integrated single-cell MSI platform for characterizing the drug distribution and its phenotype changes within individual cells, expediting the identification and evaluation of newly developed drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a narrowband near-field (NF) source localization algorithm based on two correlation operations. By utilizing the correlation of incident signal in the time and spatial domains, the algorithm achieves direction-of-arrival (DOA) with high-precision and low-complexity and range estimation under the virtual single snapshot. To do so, in the processing of NF source received signals, this paper first utilizes the symmetry of the cross-cross array and obtains a covariance matrix containing only azimuth and elevation information through two correlation operations. Since the covariance matrix has a standard two-level Toeplitz matrix form, the estimated parameters can be directly extracted from the noise-free covariance matrix without pairing using the two-level Vandermonde decomposition technique. Finally, the estimated value of the range is obtained using a one-dimensional (1-D) spectral peak search. Computer simulation results verify the superior performance of the proposed algorithm in terms of complexity and estimation accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The phenomenon of local cavitation during bubble pulsation. • The local cavitation closing pressure in the bubble pulsation stage. • The mechanism of local cavitation formation is analyzed. • The effects of sheet thickness and blast distance on local cavitation. The current research on the cavitation phenomenon in the underwater explosion process is focused on the shock wave phase. In this study, it was found that there was also significant cavitation during bubble pulsation. Underwater explosion experiments were carried out at the bottom of a sheet using 2.5 g of TNT, which also showed that: (a) Cavitation lasts for the same duration as the bubble contraction time, (b) A cavitation closure pressure, the peak of which is greater than the bubble pulsation pressure, is produced by the closing of the cavitation zone. A tensile cut-off model was introduced to simulate the cavitation phenomenon during bubble pulsation, and the formation mechanism was investigated. The numerical simulation results show that: (a) The cavitation phenomenon is visible when the sheet above the explosive and the explosion distance are between 0.93 and 1.17 times the radius of the largest bubble, or between 0.69 and 1.85 times the maximum radius of the bubble when the sheet below the explosive, (b) The cavitation region and cavitation closure pressure increase and decrease with increasing explosion distance, peaking at a value close to one times the theoretical maximum bubble radius, and (c) The cavitation zone shrinks and the cavitation closing pressure drops as sheet thickness increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nano-manipulation technology, as a kind of “bottom-up” tool, has exhibited an excellent capacity in the field of measurement and fabrication on the nanoscale. Although variety manipulation methods based on probes and microscopes were proposed and widely used due to locating and imaging with high resolution, the development of non-contacted schemes for these methods is still indispensable to operate small objects without damage. However, optical manipulation, especially near-field trapping, is a perfect candidate for establishing brilliant manipulation systems. This paper reports about simulations on the electric and force fields at the tips of metallic probes irradiated by polarized laser outputted coming from a scanning near-field optical microscope probe. Distributions of electric and force field at the tip of a probe have proven that the polarized laser can induce nanoscale evanescent fields with high intensity, which arouse effective force to move nanoparticles. Moreover, schemes with dual probes are also presented and discussed in this paper. Simulation results indicate that different combinations of metallic probes and polarized lasers will provide diverse near-field and corresponding optical force. With the suitable direction of probes and polarization direction, the dual probe exhibits higher trapping force and wider effective wavelength range than a single probe. So, these results give more novel and promising selections for realizing optical manipulation in experiments, so that distinguished multi-functional manipulation systems can be developed.

An accurate and efficient physical-optics (PO) near-field integral representation is proposed and introduced into shooting and bouncing ray (SBR) to evaluate the electric and magnetic near-fields scattered from electrically large complex objects illuminated by dipole sources. The PO near-field integral expressions can be reduced to closed-form expressions by applying locally expanded phase approximations and surface partitioning. By introducing the proposed PO near-field integral expressions, SBR can be used to solve near-field scattering problems from electrically large complex objects. Simple and complex numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed method.

The existing underwater noise source near-field location method usually assumes that the measurement plane is flat, which increases the difficulty of applying the underwater noise target test for cylindrical distribution. Simultaneously, the conventional near-field focused beam has a lower spatial resolution when used to locate an underwater noise source with cylindrical distribution. Moreover, the near-field underwater noise source location method based on the sound pressure array has a left and right side fuzzy problem. In order to solve these problems, by establishing the near-field measurement model of the noise source with cylindrical distribution as the measurement surface, and combining the unilateral directivity of the vector hydrophone and the high resolution characteristics of the MUSIC algorithm, a near-field and high resolution location method is proposed for cylindrical distribution based on vector sound pressure, and a computer simulation is carried out. The results show that the method can use a smaller array aperture to locate the underwater noise source, enabling it to be used to locate and recognize the noise sources of complex and large-scale cylindrical systems.

Coupling effects of localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) represent an efficient means to tune the plasmonic modes and to enhance the near-field. While LSPR coupling in metal nanoparticles has been extensively explored, limited attention has been given to heavily doped semiconductor nanocrystals. Here, we investigate the LSPR coupling behavior of Cs-doped tungsten oxide (Cs x WO 3-δ ) nanocrystal platelets as they undergo an oriented assembly into parallel stacks. The oriented assembly was achieved by lowering the dispersion stability of the colloidal nanoplatelets, of which the basal surface was selectively ligand-functionalized. This assembly induces simultaneous blue-shifts and red-shifts of dual-mode LSPR peaks without compromising the intensity and quality factor. This stands in contrast to the significant damping, broadening, and overall red-shift of the LSPR observed in random assemblies. Computational simulations successfully replicate the experimental observations, affirming the potential of this coupling phenomenon of near-infrared dual-mode LSPR in diverse applications including solar energy, bio-optics, imaging, and telecommunications.

Here, we describe the synthesis of a plasmonic particle-in-a-frame architecture in which a solid Au octahedron is enclosed by a Au cubic nanoframe. The octahedra are positioned inside and surrounded by outer Au cubic nanoframes, creating intra-nanogaps within a single entity. Six sharp vertexes in the Au octahedra point toward the open (100) facets of the cubic nanoframes. This allows not only efficient interactions with the surroundings but also tip-enhanced electromagnetic near-field focusing at the sharp tips of the octahedra, combined with intraparticle coupling. The solid core-frame shell structure enhances near-field focusing, giving rise to a heightened concentration of "hot spots". This effect enables highly sensitive detection of 2-naphthalenethiol and thiram, indicating these substrates for use in surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy-related applications.

Millimeter-wave (MMW) 3-D imaging technology is becoming a research hotspot in the field of safety inspection, intelligent driving, etc., due to its all-day, all-weather, high-resolution and non-destruction feature. Unfortunately, due to the lack of a complete 3-D MMW radar dataset, many urgent theories and algorithms (e.g., imaging, detection, classification, clustering, filtering, and others) cannot be fully verified. To solve this problem, this paper develops an MMW 3-D imaging system and releases a high-resolution 3-D MMW radar dataset for imaging and evaluation, named as 3DRIED. The dataset contains two different types of data patterns, which are the raw echo data and the imaging results, respectively, wherein 81 high-quality raw echo data are presented mainly for near-field safety inspection. These targets cover dangerous metal objects such as knives and guns. Free environments and concealed environments are considered in experiments. Visualization results are presented with corresponding 2-D and 3-D images; the pixels of the 3-D images are 512×512×6. In particular, the presented 3DRIED is generated by the W-band MMW radar with a center frequency of 79GHz, and the theoretical 3-D resolution reaches 2.8 mm × 2.8 mm × 3.75 cm. Notably, 3DRIED has 5 advantages: (1) 3-D raw data and imaging results; (2) high-resolution; (3) different targets; (4) applicability for evaluation and analysis of different post processing. Moreover, the numerical evaluation of high-resolution images with different types of 3-D imaging algorithms, such as range migration algorithm (RMA), compressed sensing algorithm (CSA) and deep neural networks, can be used as baselines. Experimental results reveal that the dataset can be utilized to verify and evaluate the aforementioned algorithms, demonstrating the benefits of the proposed dataset.