Single-emitter super-resolved imaging of radiative decay rate enhancement in dielectric gap nanoantennas Córdova-Castro, R. M., B. Van Dam, A. Lauri, S. A. Maier, R. Sapienza, Y. De Wilde, I. Izeddin, and V. Krachmalnicoff Light: Science and Applications 13, no. 1 (2024)
Résumé: High refractive index dielectric nanoantennas strongly modify the decay rate via the Purcell effect through the design of radiative channels. Due to their dielectric nature, the field is mainly confined inside the nanostructure and in the gap, which is hard to probe with scanning probe techniques. Here we use single-molecule fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (smFLIM) to map the decay rate enhancement in dielectric GaP nanoantenna dimers with a median localization precision of 14 nm. We measure, in the gap of the nanoantenna, decay rates that are almost 30 times larger than on a glass substrate. By comparing experimental results with numerical simulations we show that this large enhancement is essentially radiative, contrary to the case of plasmonic nanoantennas, and therefore has great potential for applications such as quantum optics and biosensing.
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Label-Free Imaging of Inflammation at the Level of Single Cells in the Living Human Eye Rui, Y., M. Zhang, D. M. W. Lee, V. C. Snyder, R. Raghuraman, E. Gofas-Salas, P. Mecê, S. Yadav, P. Tiruveedhula, K. Grieve, J. A. Sahel, M. H. Errera, and E. A. Rossi Ophthalmology Science 4, no. 5, 100475 (2024)
Résumé: Purpose: Putative microglia were recently detected using adaptive optics ophthalmoscopy in healthy eyes. Here we evaluate the use of nonconfocal adaptive optics scanning light ophthalmoscopy (AOSLO) for quantifying the morphology and motility of presumed microglia and other immune cells in eyes with retinal inflammation from uveitis and healthy eyes. Design: Observational exploratory study. Participants: Twelve participants were imaged, including 8 healthy participants and 4 posterior uveitis patients recruited from the clinic of 1 of the authors (M.H.E.). Methods: The Pittsburgh AOSLO imaging system was used with a custom-designed 7-fiber optical fiber bundle for simultaneous confocal and nonconfocal multioffset detection. The inner retina was imaged at several locations at multiple timepoints in healthy participants and uveitis patients to generate time-lapse images. Main Outcome Measures: Microglia and macrophages were manually segmented from nonconfocal AOSLO images, and their morphological characteristics quantified (including soma size, diameter, and circularity). Cell soma motion was quantified across time for periods of up to 30 minutes and their speeds were calculated by measuring their displacement over time. Results: A spectrum of cell morphologies was detected in healthy eyes from circular amoeboid cells to elongated cells with visible processes, resembling activated and ramified microglia, respectively. Average soma diameter was 16.1 ± 0.9 μm. Cell movement was slow in healthy eyes (0.02 μm/sec on average), but macrophage-like cells moved rapidly in some uveitis patients (up to 3 μm/sec). In an eye with infectious uveitis, many macrophage-like cells were detected; during treatment their quantity and motility decreased as vision improved. Conclusions: In vivo adaptive optics ophthalmoscopy offers promise as a potentially powerful tool for detecting and monitoring inflammation and response to treatment at a cellular level in the living eye. Financial Disclosure(s): Proprietary or commercial disclosure may be found in the Footnotes and Disclosures at the end of this article.
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Closed forms for spatiotemporal optical vortices and sagittal skyrmionic pulses Vo, S., R. Gutiérrez-Cuevas, and M. A. Alonso Journal of Optics (United Kingdom) 26, no. 9 (2024)
Résumé: Spatiotemporal optical vortices (STOVs) are short pulses that present a vortex whose axis is perpendicular to the main propagation direction. We present analytic expressions for these pulses that satisfy exactly Maxwell’s equation, by applying appropriate differential operators to complex focus pulses with Poisson-like frequency spectrum. We also provide a simple ray picture for understanding the deformation of these pulses under propagation. Finally, we use these solutions to propose a type of pulse with sagittal skyrmionic polarization distribution covering all states of transverse polarization.
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Harnessing forward multiple scattering for optical imaging deep inside an opaque medium Najar, U., V. Barolle, P. Balondrade, M. Fink, C. Boccara, and A. Aubry Nature Communications 15, no. 1 (2024)
Résumé: As light travels through a disordered medium such as biological tissues, it undergoes multiple scattering events. This phenomenon is detrimental to in-depth optical microscopy, as it causes a drastic degradation of contrast, resolution and brightness of the resulting image beyond a few scattering mean free paths. However, the information about the inner reflectivity of the sample is not lost; only scrambled. To recover this information, a matrix approach of optical imaging can be fruitful. Here, we report on a de-scanned measurement of a high-dimension reflection matrix R via low coherence interferometry. Then, we show how a set of independent focusing laws can be extracted for each medium voxel through an iterative multi-scale analysis of wave distortions contained in R. It enables an optimal and local compensation of forward multiple scattering paths and provides a three-dimensional confocal image of the sample as the latter one had become digitally transparent. The proof-of-concept experiment is performed on a human opaque cornea and an extension of the penetration depth by a factor five is demonstrated compared to the state-of-the-art.
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A practical guide to digital micro-mirror devices (DMDs) for wavefront shaping Popoff, S. M., R. Gutiérrez-Cuevas, Y. Bromberg, and M. W. Matthés Journal of Physics: Photonics 6, no. 4, 043001 (2024)
Résumé: Digital micromirror devices have gained popularity in wavefront shaping, offering a high frame rate alternative to liquid crystal spatial light modulators. They are relatively inexpensive, offer high resolution, are easy to operate, and a single device can be used in a broad optical bandwidth. However, some technical drawbacks must be considered to achieve optimal performance. These issues, often undocumented by manufacturers, mostly stem from the device's original design for video projection applications. Herein, we present a guide to characterize and mitigate these effects. Our focus is on providing simple and practical solutions that can be easily incorporated into a typical wavefront shaping setup.
Mots-clés: wavefront shaping; modulation; optics; DMD; modulator; SLM
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Perfect active absorption of water waves in a channel by a dipole source Euvé, L. P., K. Pham, P. Petitjeans, V. Pagneux, and A. Maurel Journal of Fluid Mechanics 990 (2024)
Résumé: This study investigates the potential use of an active device to efficiently absorb water waves propagating in a channel. The active device comprises a dipole source consisting of two sources in quasi-opposition of phase. We explore the feasibility of this approach to achieve perfect absorption of guided waves through interference phenomena. To accomplish this, we establish the law governing the waves emitted by the dipole source to optimize the absorption of specific incident waves. The validity of this law is demonstrated through numerical simulations and laboratory experiments, encompassing both the harmonic and transient regimes of the experimental set-up.
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