CA : A Cancer Journal for Clinicians

A fast-Fourier-transform method of topography and interferometry is proposed. By computer processing of a noncontour type of fringe pattern, automatic discrimination is achieved between elevation and depression of the object or wave-front form, which has not been possible by the fringe-contour-generation techniques. The method has advantages over moire topography and conventional fringe-contour interferometry in both accuracy and sensitivity. Unlike fringe-scanning techniques, the method is easy to apply because it uses no moving components.

Fourier-transform method of fringe-pattern analysis for computer-based topography and interferometry

Upconversion refers to non-linear optical processes that convert two or more low-energy pump photons to a higher-energy output photon. After being recognized in the mid-1960s, upconversion has attracted significant research interest for its applications in optical devices such as infrared quantum counter detectors and compact solid-state lasers. Over the past decade, upconversion has become more prominent in biological sciences as the preparation of high-quality lanthanide-doped nanoparticles has become increasingly routine. Owing to their small physical dimensions and biocompatibility, upconversion nanoparticles can be easily coupled to proteins or other biological macromolecular systems and used in a variety of assay formats ranging from bio-detection to cancer therapy. In addition, intense visible emission from these nanoparticles under near-infrared excitation, which is less harmful to biological samples and has greater sample penetration depths than conventional ultraviolet excitation, enhances their prospects as luminescent stains in bio-imaging. In this article, we review recent developments in optical biolabeling and bio-imaging involving upconversion nanoparticles, simultaneously bringing to the forefront the desirable characteristics, strengths and weaknesses of these luminescent nanomaterials.

Upconversion nanoparticles in biological labeling, imaging, and therapy

The diffraction tomography theorem is adapted to one-dimensional length measurement. The resulting spectral interferometry technique is described and the first length measurements using this technique on a model eye and on a human eye in vivo are presented.

Measurement of intraocular distances by backscattering spectral interferometry

This critical review presents an overview of the various classes of oxide materials exhibiting fast oxide-ion or proton conductivity for use as solid electrolytes in clean energy applications such as solid oxide fuel cells. Emphasis is placed on the relationship between structural and mechanistic features of the crystalline materials and their ion conduction properties. After describing well-established classes such as fluorite- and perovskite-based oxides, new materials and structure-types are presented. These include a variety of molybdate, gallate, apatite silicate/germanate and niobate systems, many of which contain flexible structural networks, and exhibit different defect properties and transport mechanisms to the conventional materials. It is concluded that the rich chemistry of these important systems provides diverse possibilities for developing superior ionic conductors for use as solid electrolytes in fuel cells and related applications. In most cases, a greater atomic-level understanding of the structures, defects and conduction mechanisms is achieved through a combination of experimental and computational techniques (217 references).

Oxide-ion and proton conducting electrolyte materials for clean energy applications: structural and mechanistic features

White-light interferometer with high sensitivity and resolution using multi-mode fibers

With the process nodes extending to sub-10-nm in advanced semiconductor manufacturing, the overlay requirements keep progressively scaling down, which makes it very important to measure overlay precisely for monitoring on-product performance. The overlay mark being asymmetrical when generated via the lithography process, this asymmetry will be slightly variated even in the same process or same lot, and it will bring overlay measurement error. In general, the wafer alignment data are used for correcting this overlay measurement error, utilizing its wavelengths and polarizations dependence. However, there is a residual error that cannot be removed because the structures of the wafer alignment mark and overlay mark are different and are affected by the process differently. In this paper, a new method is proposed for calibrating the overlay measurement error introduced by the asymmetric mark, which is based on the relationship between measurement data of the overlay mark and the single layer mark. The validity is verified by simulation with different types of asymmetric mark. It is very useful for improving overlay measurement accuracy and for understanding how the overlay measurement error is affected by the asymmetric mark.

Calibration method of overlay measurement error caused by asymmetric mark.

To resolve the conflict of large measurement range and high accuracy in the existing real-time laser diode (LD) interferometers for displacement measurement, a novel real-time LD interferometry for displacement measurement is proposed and its measurement principle is analyzed. By use of a new phase demodulation algorithm and a new phase compensation algorithm of real-time phase unwrapping, the measurement accuracy is improved, and the measurement range is enlarged to a few wavelengths. In experiments, the peak-to-peak amplitude of the speaker vibration was 2361.7 nm, and the repeatability was 2.56 nm. The measurement time was less than 26 microseconds.

Real-time displacement measurement with large range and high accuracy using sinusoidal phase modulating laser diode interferometer

The computation time of wavefront reconstruction is decreased by sampling the difference fronts in the present study. The wavefront can be reconstructed with high accuracy up to 64 Zernike terms with only 32×32 sampled pixels. Furthermore, the computational efficiency can be improved by a factor of more than 1000, and the measurement efficiency of lateral shearing interferometry is improved. The influence of the terms used to reconstruct the wavefront, the grid size of the test wavefront, the shear ratio, and the random noise on the reconstruction accuracy is analyzed and compared, when the difference fronts are sampled with different grid sizes. Numerical simulations and experiments show that the relative reconstruction error is <5% if the grid size of the sampled difference fronts is more than four times the radial order of difference Zernike polynomials with a reasonable noise level and shear ratio.

Method for improving measurement efficiency of lateral shearing interferometry

A parallel plate interferometer with a reflecting mirror for measuring angular displacement is proposed. A deflection angle of a beam caused by an angular displacement is amplified by use of a reflecting mirror to increase the optical path difference (OPD) in the plane-parallel plate, which provides high sensitivity of the phase measurement. Detection of light transmitted through the plane-parallel plate with a position sensitive detector (PSD) enables high accurate measurement of the initial angle of incidence to the plane-parallel plate with insensitivity to stray light. The improved parallel plate interferometer achieves a measurement repeatability of 10−8 rad.

Xiangzhao Wang

Papers

White-light interferometer with high sensitivity and resolution using multi-mode fibers

Calibration method of overlay measurement error caused by asymmetric mark.

Real-time displacement measurement with large range and high accuracy using sinusoidal phase modulating laser diode interferometer

Method for improving measurement efficiency of lateral shearing interferometry

Parallel plate interferometer with a reflecting mirror for measuring angular displacement