The in vivo synaptic plasticity mechanism of EGb 761-induced enhancement of spatial learning and memory in aged rats

1 It has not been uniform to date that the Ginkgo biloba extracts enhance cognitive function in aged animals, and the mechanisms of action remain difficult to elucidate. In this study, the Morris water maze task and electrophysiological methods were used

Device for charge- and spin-pumped current generation with temperature-induced enhancement

We have proposed a device, a superconducting-lead/quantum-dot/normal-lead system with an ac voltage applied on the gate of the quantum dot induced by a microwave, based on the one-parameter pump mechanism. It can generate a pure charge- or spin-pumped current. The direction of the charge current can be reversed by pushing the levels across the Fermi energy. A spin current arises when a magnetic field is applied on the quantum dot to split the two degenerate levels, and it can be reversed by reversing the applied magnetic field. The increase of temperature enhances these currents in certain parameter intervals and decreases them in other intervals. We can explain this interesting phenomenon in terms of the shrinkage of the superconducting gap and the concepts of photon-sideband and photon-assisted processes.

Aluminium doping induced enhancement of p-d coupling in ZnO

Valence-band type Auger lines in Al doped and undoped ZnO were comparatively studied with the corresponding core level x-ray photoelectron spectrography (XPS) spectra as references. Then the shift trend of energy levels in the valence band was that p and p-s-d states move upwards but e and p-d states downwards with increasing Al concentration. The decreased energy of the Zn 3d state is larger than the increased energy of the 0 2p state, indicating the lowering of total energy. This may indicate that Al doping could induce the enhancement of p-d coupling in ZnO, which originates from stronger Al-O hybridization. The shifts of these states and the mechanism were confirmed by valence band XPS spectra and 0 K-edge x-ray absorption spectrography (XAS) spectra. Finally, some previously reported phenomena are explained based on the Al doping induced enhancement of p-d coupling.

Thermal induced facet destructive feature of quantum cascade lasers

We present a study on the facet damage profile of quantum cascade lasers (QCLs). Conspicuous cascade half-loop damage strips on front facet are observed when QCLs catastrophically failed. Due to the large difference on thermal conductivities between active region and the substrate, dominant heat is compulsively driven to the substrate. Abundant heat accumulation and dissipation on substrate build large temperature gradient and thermal lattice mismatch. Thermal-induced stress due to sequential mismatch leads to the occurrence of the multistep damages on front facet. Good agreement is achieved between the observed locations of damaged strips and the calculated results.

Mechanical and thermal induced chain conformational transformations in syndiotactic polypropylene (sPP)

Stretching a stacked sPP lamellar morphology at room temperature leads to a mechanical induced transformation from the (t(2)g(2))(2) (helical) into the (tttt) (zigzag) chain conformation of the polymer. The so prepared samples exhibit after annealing above 80 degreesC a thermal induced retransformation into the cell I and cell III crystal structure of the helical chain conformation. The mechanical induced chain conformational transformation as well as the thermal induced retransformation was studied by means of transmission electron microscopy and electron diffraction. (C) 2001 Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Laser-induced changes on the complex refractive indices of phase-change thin film

The refractive indices of crystalline phase-change films are usually obtained by thermal-induced crystallization. However, this is not accurate, because the crystallization of phase-change film in rewritable optical disks is laser induced. In this study, we use the initializer to crystallize the phase-change films. The dependence of the refractive index n and the extinction coefficient k of the phase-change films on the initialization conditions are studied. Remarkable changes of the refractive indices (especially k) are found when the initialization laser power density is 6.63 mW/mum(2) and the initialization velocity is 4.0 m/s. At the same time, the structure changes of the phase-change films are also studied. This dependence is explained by the structure change of the films. These results are significant in improving the accuracy of optical design and the thermal simulation of phase-change optical disks, as well as in the study of phase-change optical disks at shorter wavelengths. (C) 2003 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.

Nd：GGG激光晶体热容工作下的热致效应与冷却特性数值模拟

基于对称双侧激光二极管（LD）抽运Nd：GGG（掺钕钆镓石榴石）激光晶体板条，从热传导基本方程出发，以废热等效于内热源模型为前提，利用有限元分析软件ANSYS对Nd：GGG板条在热容工作下的瞬态温度场及应力场进行了数值模拟，分析了在不同边界条件下温度和应力随时间和空间的变化特性及其热致变形。计算结果表明：在激光发射阶段，边界非绝热使得板条在垂直光轴方向产生温度梯度，由此产生的折射率梯度和应力梯度导致距离光轴最远的板条边缘和光轴处产生约0．2μm的变形量。同时模拟了冷却阶段空气对流冷却、水循环冷却及喷雾冷却

机载测深激光雷达千赫兹全固态激光器设计及特性研究

将千赫兹高功率全固态Nd：YAG激光器的增益介质当作厚透镜处理，使用矩阵的方法对等效热透镜腔进行分析。采用多条半导体激光列阵侧向紧凑抽运结构设计，提高了增益介质光抽运的均匀性。根据实际抽运功率，通过模拟计算，设计了平凸非稳腔。选择的凸面全反镜的最佳曲率半径有效地补偿了增益介质热透镜效应，激光器实现了动态稳腔运转，激光脉冲能量输出斜度效率大于13％，光束发散角优于1.3mrad。

双调Q开关热退偏补偿全固态激光器

为了有效地补偿激光二极管(LD)侧向抽运1000 Hz重复率电光调Q Nd:YAG激光器棒状增益介质内存在的热致双折射损耗，设计了一种新颖的双调Q晶体开关复合谐振腔结构。实验结果表明，设计的双调Q晶体开关结构Nd:YAG激光器输出激光脉冲能量比单调Q晶体开关结构的非补偿腔输出能量提高了56%，当侧面抽运半导体激光器输出功率达到450 W时，激光输出达到30 mJ/pulse，输出光束偏振度优于10:1，激光脉冲宽度约14 ns。并获得6.7%的光-光转换效率。通过对双调Q开光激光谐振腔进行建模，并用求解速

锯齿形板条抽运结构的热效应数值比较

激光二极管抽运的全固态激光器中,除了激光介质的温度分布和热透镜效应以外,抽运、冷却结构对获得高光束质量、高功率激光输出至关重要。基于热传导方程,在相同的抽运功率和传导冷却边界条件下,对单侧面抽运锯齿形(zigzag)板条、单侧面键合锯齿形板条、部分抽运板条三种不同抽运结构的温度分布、热致应力、温度导致的折射率变化进行了详细的分析,并通过光线追迹方法,比较了光束在锯齿形面内和垂直于锯齿形面内的光程差,由光程差曲线分析了激光束的热透镜效应。对三种抽运结构的端面温度、端面变形和端面变形导致的光程差也进行了对比分

Coupling between NMDA receptor and acid-sensing ion channel contributes to ischemic neuronal death

Acid-sensing ion channels (ASICs) composed of ASIC1a subunit exhibit a high Ca2+ permeability and play important roles in synaptic plasticity and acid-induced cell death. Here, we show that ischemia enhances ASIC currents through the phosphorylation at Ser478 and Ser479 of ASIC1a, leading to exacerbated ischemic cell death. The phosphorylation is catalyzed by Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) activity, as a result of activation of NR2B-containing N-methyl-D-aspartate subtype of glutamate receptors (NMDARs) during ischemia. Furthermore, NR2B-specific antagonist, CaMKII inhibitor, or overexpression of mutated form of ASIC1a with Ser478 or Ser479 replaced by alanine (ASICla-S478A, ASIC1a-S479A) in cultured hippocampal neurons prevented ischemia-induced enhancement of ASIC currents, cytoplasmic Ca2+ elevation, as well as neuronal death. Thus, NMDAR-CaMKII cascade is functionally coupled to ASICs and contributes to acidotoxicity during ischemia. Specific blockade of NMDAR/CaMKII-ASIC coupling may reduce neuronal death after ischemia and other pathological conditions involving excessive glutamate release and acidosis.

IMPROVED PEAK POWER METHOD FOR MEASURING FREQUENCY RESPONSES OF PHOTODETECTORS IN A SELF-HETERODYNE SYSTEM

An improved peak power method for measuring frequency responses of photodetectors in a self-heterodyne system consisting of a distributed Bragg reflector laser is proposed. The time-resolved spectrum technique is used to measure the peak power of the beat signal and the intrinsic linewidth of heat signal for calibration. The experimental results show that the impact of the thermal-induced frequency drift, which is the main reason for producing an error in measurement by conventional peak power method and spectrum power method, can be removed.

Continuous-wave operation of GaN based multi-quantum-well laser diode at room temperature

Room-temperature operation of cw GaN based multi-quantum-well laser diodes (LDs) is demonstrated. The LD structure is grown on a sapphire (0001) substrate by metalorganic chemical vapour deposition. A 2.5 mu m x 800 mu m ridge waveguide structure is fabricated. The electrical and optical characteristics of the laser diode under direct current injection at room temperature are investigated. The threshold current and voltage of the LD under cw operation are 110mA and 10.5V, respectively. Thermal induced series resistance decrease and emission wavelength red-shift are observed as the injection current is increased. The full width at half maximum for the parallel and perpendicular far field pattern (FFP) are 12 degrees and 32 degrees, respectively.

Photoluminescence of Te isoelectronic centers in ZnS : Te under hydrostatic pressure

The photoluminescence of four epitaxial ZnS: Te samples with Te concentration from 0.5% to 3.1% was investigated at different temperature and ambient pressure. Two well-known emission bands related to the isolated Te-1 and Te-2 pair isoelectronic centers were observed for the samples with Te concentrations of 0.5% and 0.65%. For the samples with Te concentrations of 1.4% and 3.1%, only was the Te-2-related peak observed. The pressure behaviors of these emission bands, were studied at 15 K. The Te-1 -related band has faster pressure shift to higher energy than ZnS band gap. On the other hand, the pressure coefficient of Te-2 -related bands is smaller than that of the ZnS band gap. According to a Koster-Slater model, we found that the increase of the density bandwidth of the valence band with pressure is the main reason for the faster shift of the Te-1 centers, while the relatively large difference in the pressure behavior of the Te-1 and Te-2 centers is mainly due to the difference in the pressure-induced enhancement of the impurity potential on Te-1 and Te-2 centers.