Transformations induced in bulk amorphous silica by ultrafast laser direct writingTransformations induced in bulk amorphous silica by ultrafast laser direct writing

Agências Financiadoras: Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia - PTDC/FIS/102127/2008 e PTDC/FIS/102127/2008 e SFRH/BPD/78871/2011; Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion - FUNCOAT-CSD2008-00023-CONSOLIDER; Instituto Superior Técnico;

Does diaphragmatic breathing technique really improve its range of motion? An objective assessment

Purpose - To verify the results of a diaphragmatic breathing technique (DBT) on diaphragmatic range of motion in healthy subjects. Methods - A total of 51 healthy subjects (10 male; 41 female), mean age 20 years old and a body mass index (BMI) ranging from 15.6 to 34.9 kg/m2, were enrolled in this study. Diaphragmatic range of motion was assessed by M-mode ultrasound imaging. Measurements were made before and after the DBT implementation in a standard protocol, based on 3 seconds of inspiration starting from a maximum expiration. Differences between assessments were analyzed by descriptive statistics and t-test (p < 0.05). Results - Mean value range of motion before DBT was 55.3 ± 13.4 mm and after DBT was 63.8 ± 13.2 mm showing a significant improvement of 8.5 ± 14.7 mm (p < 0.001). A strong correlation between the slope and the range of motion was found (r = 0.71, p < 0.001). Conclusions - Based on ultrasound measurements, it has been proved that DBT really contributes to a higher diaphragmatic range of motion. Future studies are needed in order to understand the influence of protocol parameters (e.g. inspiration time). Clinical implications - In the contest of evidence-based practice in physiotherapy, it has been showed by objective measurements that DBT improves the diaphragm range of motion, translating into a more efficient ventilatory function and thus can be used in clinical setting. To our knowledge this is the first study to assess the effects of DBT on range of motion of diaphragm muscle with ultrasound imaging.

Optimization of structures modeled with a Meshfree approach

Radial basis functions are being used in different scientific areas in order to reproduce the geometrical modeling of an object/structure, as well as to predict its behavior. Due to its characteristics, these functions are well suited for meshfree modeling of physical quantities, which for instances can be associated to the data sets of 3D laser scanning point clouds. In the present work the geometry of a structure is modeled by using multiquadric radial basis functions, and its configuration is further optimized in order to obtain better performances concerning to its static and dynamic behavior. For this purpose the authors consider the particle swarm optimization technique. A set of case studies is presented to illustrate the adequacy of the meshfree model used, as well as its link to particle swarm optimization technique. © 2014 IEEE.

Internal structure of the nanogratings generated inside bulk fused sílica by ultrafast laser direct writing

The aim of the present work was to characterize the internal structure of nanogratings generated inside bulk fused silica by ultrafast laser processing and to study the influence of diluted hydrofluoric acid etching on their structure. The nanogratings were inscribed at a depth of 100 mu m within fused silica wafers by a direct writing method, using 1030 nm radiation wavelength and the following processing parameters: E = 5 mu J, tau = 560 fs, f = 10 kHz, and v = 100 mu m/s. The results achieved show that the laser-affected regions are elongated ellipsoids with a typical major diameter of about 30 mu m and a minor diameter of about 6 mu m. The nanogratings within these regions are composed of alternating nanoplanes of damaged and undamaged material, with an average periodicity of 351 +/- 21 nm. The damaged nanoplanes contain nanopores randomly dispersed in a material containing a large density of defects. These nanopores present a roughly bimodal size distribution with average dimensions for each class of pores 65 +/- 20 x 16 +/- 8 x 69 +/- 16 nm(3) and 367 +/- 239 x 16 +/- 8 x 360 +/- 194 nm(3), respectively. The number and size of the nanopores increases drastically when an hydrofluoric acid treatment is performed, leading to the coalescence of these voids into large planar discontinuities parallel to the nanoplanes. The preferential etching of the damaged material by the hydrofluoric acid solution, which is responsible for the pores growth and coalescence, confirms its high defect density. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.

Surface morphology and phase transformations of femtosecond laser-processed saphire

The morphological and structural modifications induced in sapphire by surface treatment with femtosecond laser radiation were studied. Single-crystal sapphire wafers cut parallel to the (0 1 2) planes were treated with 560 fs, 1030 nm wavelength laser radiation using wide ranges of pulse energy and repetition rate. Self-ordered periodic structures with an average spatial periodicity of similar to 300 nm were observed for fluences slightly higher than the ablation threshold. For higher fluences the interaction was more disruptive and extensive fracture, exfoliation, and ejection of ablation debris occurred. Four types of particles were found in the ablation debris: (a) spherical nanoparticles about 50 nm in diameter; (b) composite particles between 150 and 400 nm in size; (c) rounded resolidified particles about 100-500 nm in size; and (d) angular particles presenting a lamellar structure and deformation twins. The study of those particles by selected area electron diffraction showed that the spherical nanoparticles and the composite particles are amorphous, while the resolidified droplets and the angular particles, present a crystalline a-alumina structure, the same of the original material. Taking into consideration the existing ablation theories, it is proposed that the spherical nanoparticles are directly emitted from the surface in the ablation plume, while resolidified droplets are emitted as a result of the ablation process, in the liquid phase, in the low intensity regime, and by exfoliation, in the high intensity regime. Nanoparticle clusters are formed by nanoparticle coalescence in the cooling ablation plume. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Evidences for direct magnetic patterning via diffusive transformations using femtosecond laser interferometry

The application of femtosecond laser interferometry to direct patterning of thin-film magnetic alloys is demonstrated. The formation of stripe gratings with submicron periodicities is achieved in Fe1-xVx (x=18-34wt. %) layers, with a difference in magnetic moments up to Delta mu/mu similar to 20 between adjacent stripes but without any significant development of the topographical relief (<1% of the film thickness). The produced gratings exhibit a robust effect of their anisotropy shape on magnetization curves in the film plane. The obtained data witness ultrafast diffusive transformations associated with the process of spinodal decomposition and demonstrate an opportunity for producing magnetic nanostructures with engineered properties upon this basis.

Laser surfasse patterning using a Michelson interferometer and a femtosecond laser radiation

We report on a simple method to obtain surface gratings using a Michelson interferometer and femtosecond laser radiation. In the optical setup used, two parallel laser beams are generated using a beam splitter and then focused using the same focusing lens. An interference pattern is created in the focal plane of the focusing lens, which can be used to pattern the surface of materials. The main advantage of this method is that the optical paths difference of the interfering beams is independent of the distance between the beams. As a result, the fringes period can be varied without a need for major realignment of the optical system and the time coincidence between the interfering beams can be easily monitored. The potential of the method was demonstrated by patterning surface gratings with different periods on titanium surfaces in air.

Sub-micron structuring of silicon using femtosecond laser interferometry

We report the fabrication of planar sub-micron gratings in silicon with a period of 720 nm using a modified Michelson interferometer and femtosecond laser radiation. The gratings consist of alternated stripes of laser ablated and unmodified material. Ablated stripes are bordered by parallel ridges which protrude above the unmodified material. In the regions where ridges are formed, the laser radiation intensity is not sufficient to cause ablation. Nevertheless, melting and a significant temperature increase are expected, and ridges may be formed due to expansion of silicon during resolidification or silicon oxidation. These conclusions are consistent with the evolution of the stripes morphology as a function of the distance from the center of the grating.

Análise da acuidade visual no implante de LIO fáquica em miopias elevadas

Introdução – Na correção de miopias elevadas, a cirurgia por implante de lente intraocular fáquica tem tido progressivamente uma maior adesão em relação à cirurgia por laser. Compara-se a acuidade visual (AV) antes e após a cirurgia implanto-refrativa, verificando-se a efetividade deste método no incremento da visão em miopias elevadas. Metodologia – Foram analisados, retrospetivamente, 70 olhos de 41 pacientes, com miopia elevada, entre os 20 e 50 anos, submetidos a cirurgia implanto-refrativa entre 2009 e 2012. Resultados – Um dia após cirurgia, 42,86% da amostra melhorou a AV, 34,29% manteve e 22,85% diminuiu. Após 30 dias observou-se um aumento generalizado da quantidade de visão, sendo que: 64,29% atingiu os 10/10 de AV, 24,29% alcançou entre 9/10-7/10 e 11,42% entre 6/10-4/10. Conclusão – Comprovou-se a efetividade desta técnica cirúrgica, verificando-se o aumento da AV em 52,86% da amostra.

Biofunctional composite coating architectures based on polycaprolactone and nanohydroxyapatite for controlled corrosion activity and enhanced biocompatibility of magnesium AZ31 alloy

In this work a biofunctional composite coating architecture for controlled corrosion activity and enhanced cellular adhesion of AZ31 Mg alloys is proposed. The composite coating consists of a polycaprolactone (PCL) matrix modified with nanohydroxyapatite (HA) applied over a nanometric layer of polyetherimide (PEI). The protective properties of the coating were studied by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), a non-disturbing technique, and the coating morphology was investigated by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). The results show that the composite coating protects the AZ31 substrate. The barrier properties of the coating can be optimized by changing the PCL concentration. The presence of nanohydroxyapatite particles influences the coating morphology and decreases the corrosion resistance. The biocompatibility was assessed by studying the response of osteoblastic cells on coated samples through resazurin assay, confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results show that the polycaprolactone to hydroxyapatite ratio affects the cell behavior and that the presence of hydroxyapatite induces high osteoblastic differentiation. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Large-area homogeneous periodic surface structures generated on the surface sputtered boron carbide thin films by femtosecond laser processing

Amorphous and crystalline sputtered boron carbide thin films have a very high hardness even surpassing that of bulk crystalline boron carbide (≈41 GPa). However, magnetron sputtered B-C films have high friction coefficients (C.o.F) which limit their industrial application. Nanopatterning of materials surfaces has been proposed as a solution to decrease the C.o.F. The contact area of the nanopatterned surfaces is decreased due to the nanometre size of the asperities which results in a significant reduction of adhesion and friction. In the present work, the surface of amorphous and polycrystalline B-C thin films deposited by magnetron sputtering was nanopatterned using infrared femtosecond laser radiation. Successive parallel laser tracks 10 μm apart were overlapped in order to obtain a processed area of about 3 mm2. Sinusoidal-like undulations with the same spatial period as the laser tracks were formed on the surface of the amorphous boron carbide films after laser processing. The undulations amplitude increases with increasing laser fluence. The formation of undulations with a 10 μm period was also observed on the surface of the crystalline boron carbide film processed with a pulse energy of 72 μJ. The amplitude of the undulations is about 10 times higher than in the amorphous films processed at the same pulse energy due to the higher roughness of the films and consequent increase in laser radiation absorption. LIPSS formation on the surface of the films was achieved for the three B-C films under study. However, LIPSS are formed under different circumstances. Processing of the amorphous films at low fluence (72 μJ) results in LIPSS formation only on localized spots on the film surface. LIPSS formation was also observed on the top of the undulations formed after laser processing with 78 μJ of the amorphous film deposited at 800 °C. Finally, large-area homogeneous LIPSS coverage of the boron carbide crystalline films surface was achieved within a large range of laser fluences although holes are also formed at higher laser fluences.

Laser-induced diffusion decomposition in Fe-V thin-film alloys

We investigate the origin of ferromagnetism induced in thin-film (similar to 20 nm) Fe-V alloys by their irradiation with subpicosecond laser pulses. We find with Rutherford backscattering that the magnetic modifications follow a thermally stimulated process of diffusion decomposition, with formation of a-few-nm-thick Fe enriched layer inside the film. Surprisingly, similar transformations in the samples were also found after their long-time (similar to 10(3) s) thermal annealing. However, the laser action provides much higher diffusion coefficients (similar to 4 orders of magnitude) than those obtained under standard heat treatments. We get a hint that this ultrafast diffusion decomposition occurs in the metallic glassy state achievable in laser-quenched samples. This vitrification is thought to be a prerequisite for the laser-induced onset of ferromagnetism that we observe. 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Development of a high-throughput monitoring technique of bacteria photodynamic inactivation

Summary form only given. Bacterial infections and the fight against them have been one of the major concerns of mankind since the dawn of time. During the `golden years' of antibiotic discovery, during the 1940-90s, it was thought that the war against infectious diseases had been won. However currently, due to the drug resistance increase, associated with the inefficiency of discovering new antibiotic classes, infectious diseases are again a major public health concern. A potential alternative to antibiotic treatments may be the antimicrobial photodynamic inactivation (PDI) therapy. To date no indication of antimicrobial PDI resistance development has been reported. However the PDI protocol depends on the bacteria species [1], and in some cases on the bacteria strains, for instance Staphylococcus aureus [2]. Therefore the development of PDI monitoring techniques for diverse bacteria strains is critical in pursuing further understanding of such promising alternative therapy. The present works aims to evaluate Fourier-Transformed-Infra-Red (FT-IR) spectroscopy to monitor the PDI of two model bacteria, a gram-negative (Escherichia coli) and a gram-positive (S. aureus) bacteria. For that a high-throughput FTIR spectroscopic method was implemented as generally described in Scholz et al. [3], using short incubation periods and microliter quantities of the incubation mixture containing the bacteria and the PDI-drug model the known bactericidal tetracationic porphyrin 5,10,15,20-tetrakis (4-N, N, Ntrimethylammoniumphenyl)-porphyrin p-tosylate (TTAP4+). In both bacteria models it was possible to detect, by FTIR-spectroscopy, the drugs effect on the cellular composition either directly on the spectra or on score plots of principal component analysis. Furthermore the technique enabled to infer the effect of PDI on the major cellular biomolecules and metabolic status, for example the turn-over metabolism. In summary bacteria PDI was monitored in an economic, rapid (in minutes- , high-throughput (using microplates with 96 wells) and highly sensitive mode resourcing to FTIR spectroscopy, which could serve has a technological basis for the evaluation of antimicrobial PDI therapies efficiency.

Fast unsupervised technique for extraction of endmembers spectra from hyperspectral data

One of the most challenging task underlying many hyperspectral imagery applications is the linear unmixing. The key to linear unmixing is to find the set of reference substances, also called endmembers, that are representative of a given scene. This paper presents the vertex component analysis (VCA) a new method to unmix linear mixtures of hyperspectral sources. The algorithm is unsupervised and exploits a simple geometric fact: endmembers are vertices of a simplex. The algorithm complexity, measured in floating points operations, is O (n), where n is the sample size. The effectiveness of the proposed scheme is illustrated using simulated data.