Ni-Rich Layered Oxide Cathodes/Sulfide Electrolyte Interface in Solid-State Lithium Battery.

Because of the high specific capacity and low cost, Ni-rich layered oxide (NRLO) cathodes are one of the most promising cathode candidates for the next high-energy-density lithium-ion batteries. However, they face structure and interface instability challenges, especially the battery safety risk caused by using an intrinsic flammable organic liquid electrolyte. In this regard, a solid electrolyte with high safety is of great significance to promote the development of energy storage. Among them, sulfide electrolytes are considered to be the most potential substitutes for liquid electrolytes because of their high ionic conductivity and good processing properties. Nevertheless, the interfacial incompatibility between the sulfide electrolyte and NRLO cathode is the critical challenge for high-performance sulfide all-solid-state lithium batteries (ASSLBs). In this review, we summarize the problems of the Ni-rich cathode/sulfide solid electrolyte interface and the strategies to improve the interface stability. On the basis of these insights, we highlight the scientific problems and technological challenges that need to be resolved urgently and propose several potential directions to further improve the interface stability. The objective of this study is to provide a comprehensive understanding and insightful recommendations for the enhancement of the sulfide ASSLBs with NRLO cathode.

Uniform intensity chiral optical field by multifocal synthesis.

Chiral optical beams that carry orbital angular momentum (OAM) have a broad range of applications such as optical tweezers, chiral microstructure fabrication, and optical communications. However, some chiral optical beams have inhomogeneous intensity distribution that limits the application in these fields. In this Letter, two different types of chiral optical fields with uniform intensity and arbitrary length were proposed based on the amplitude encoding method and multifocal synthesis. The intensity distribution of the chiral optical fields is determined by the distance between the focal points that can greatly extend the modulation length of the chiral optical field. Moreover, since each focal point contains modulable amplitude and phase, an arbitrary interception of the optical field can be realized by selectively retaining a part of the focal points. By partitioning the chiral optical field and assigning different topological charges, the OAM space-division multiplexing and independent tunability of the topological charges can be realized. In addition, the composite multi-petal vortex array formed by combining two different chiral optical fields can greatly enhance the information capacity of the optical communications and may have potential applications in fields such as particle manipulation.

Transmission mode transformation of rotating controllable beams induced by the cross phase.

In this paper, complex-variable sine-Gaussian cross-phase (CVSGCP) beams are proposed, and the transmission dynamics properties of the CVSGCP beams in strongly nonlocal nonlinear media are investigated. CVSGCP beams can produce a variety of mode transformation characteristics during transmission. The roles of parameters in the sine and cross-phase terms of the initial light field expression in the evolution of light intensity modes, phase, and beam width are analyzed in detail, and it is proved that the effect of cross phase is to cause the beams to rotate. The control of different modes can be achieved by selecting suitable parameters, which have certain advantages in the practical application of CVSGCP beams. CVSGCP beams can be regarded as generalized high-order breathers because light intensity modes and beam width show periodic oscillation distribution during transmission. The typical evolution characteristics of the CVSGCP beams are verified by numerical simulation. Strongly nonlocal nonlinear optical media can be mathematically equivalent to a variety of optical systems, such as gradient index potential wells and resonant potential wells, so the conclusions in this paper can also be extended to these equivalent optical systems.

Dense Space-Division Multiplexing Exploiting Multi-Ring Perfect Vortex.

Vortex beams carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) have gained much interest in optical communications because they can be used to expand the number of multiplexing channels and greatly improve the transmission capacity. However, the number of states used for OAM-based communication is generally limited by the imperfect OAM generation, transmission, and demultiplexing methods. In this work, we proposed a dense space-division multiplexing (DSDM) scheme to further increase the transmission capacity and transmission capacity density of free space optical communications with a small range of OAM modes exploiting a multi-ring perfect vortex (MRPV). The proposed MRPV is generated using a pixel checkerboard complex amplitude modulation method that simultaneously encodes amplitude and phase information in a phase-only hologram. The four rings of the MRPV are mutually independent channels that transmit OAM beams under the condition of occupying only one spatial position, and the OAM mode transmitted in these spatial channels can be efficiently demodulated using a multilayer annular aperture. The effect of atmospheric turbulence on the MRPV was also analyzed, and the results showed that the four channels of the MRPV can be effectively separated under weak turbulence conditions. Under the condition of limited available space and OAM states, the proposed DSDM strategy exploiting MRPV might inspire wide optical communication applications exploiting the space dimension of light beams.

Reconfigurable generation of chiral optical fields with multiple selective degrees of freedom.

Chiral optical fields caused by vortex beams possessing orbital angular momentum (OAM) can be used to fabricate helically structured materials and identify chiral molecules, in which the materials or molecules are associated with the character of the irradiated light. However, previously reported chiral optical fields can control only some of the parameters including the number of fringes, size, ellipticity, orientation, and local intensity distribution, which may hamper their applications. Thus, in this work, we propose both theoretically and experimentally an approach to fabricate chiral optical fields with five separately controllable degrees of freedom by overlapping two anisotropic vortices whose wavefronts have a nonlinear phase variation with the azimuthal angle. The local intensity distribution, number of fringes, size, orientation, and ellipticity of the chiral optical field can be dynamically controlled by adjusting the nonlinear coefficient, topological charges, axicon parameter, rotation angle, and stretching factor of the anisotropic vortices. Furthermore, the OAM density was investigated and proven to be continuously enhanced with the variation of the field's local intensity distribution, which gives the proposed approach the ability to continuously manipulate the OAM density of chiral optical fields. This work, supporting chiral optical fields by five separately controllable parameters, may make the applications of chiral optical fields in the fields of nanostructure fabrication and optical tweezers more flexible.

Chiro-optical fields with asymmetric orbital angular momentum and polarization.

In this paper, we proposed a flexible method for generating asymmetric chiro-optical fields. Different from most of the chiro-optical fields superimposed by vortex beams which are rotationally symmetric, the asymmetric chiro-optical field has a locally controllable orbital angular momentum (OAM) and polarization state. By using a helix phase plate (HPP) calculated based on coordinates transformation of the perfect vortex, the OAM controllability of a single chiro-optical field could be achieved. Then, by using the transformation matrix method, several discrete chiro-optical fields with different rotation angles and topological charges were stitched together as a multi-lobed chiro-optical field with asymmetric OAM on each side-lobe. Furthermore, we designed two HPPs that can be loaded into two spatial light modulators to modulate the polarization state of each side-lobe of the asymmetric chiro-optical field independently. The proposed asymmetric chiro-optical field breaks the characteristics of uniform OAM and polarization distribution of conventional chiro-optical fields, which may have potential applications in optical tweezers, communications, and enantiomer-selective sensing.

Ultracompact biosensor based on a metalens with a longitudinally structured vector beam.

The refractive index is one of the essential parameters in describing biochemical reactions and biomedical diagnostics, and in situ measurement of the refractive index is very important for the micro total analysis system. We proposed an ultracompact biosensor based on a high numerical aperture metalens that was designed as two parts for generating the Pancharatnam-Berry phase and propagation phase, respectively, by using zinc sulfide nanofins, and nanopillars. Then incident light was modulated into a right-circularly polarized vortex beam and a left-circularly polarized vortex beam in the focal spot. The superposition of both beams can generate a structured vector beam with various polarization states along the focus direction. The polarization is sensitive to the difference of optical path, which has a potential application in index detection and biochemical analysis.

High numerical aperture multifocal metalens based on Pancharatnam-Berry phase optical elements.

A high numerical aperture multifocal metalens was proposed based on well-designed Pancharatnam-Berry phase optical elements. Both circularly and linearly polarized incident lights could be tightly focused into diffraction-limited focal spots. Right and left circularly polarized focal spots could be realized simultaneously by illuminating a linearly polarized beam. The highest numerical aperture reached to 0.84 with full width at half-maximum of 263 nm. Moreover, we also presented a metalens whose optical elements are hybrid arranged and the metalens can realize spin-independent focusing with a numerical aperture of 0.8. The presented metalens has significant potential applications in particles manipulation and high-resolution imaging.

Chiral optical field generated by an annular subzone vortex phase plate.

We proposed and experimentally demonstrated a novel method for generating a chiral beam with controllable intensity twist lobes and direction by using annular subzone (AS) vortex phase plates, which is composed of different ASs and different vortex phases. The phase distribution continuity between two adjacent ASs determines the intensity distribution of the light field. The rotated direction of the optical filed is determined by the topological charge sign. The number of intensity twist lobes is determined by the topological charge gradient between adjacent subzones. The experimental results show that this method is effective and practical, which offers broad potential applications in particle manipulation, chiral microstructure fabrication, and optical tweezers.

[Electroacupuncture Relieves Visceral Hypersensitivity by Down-regulating Mast Cell Number，PAR-2/TRPV 1 Signaling, etc. in Colonic Tissue of Rats with Irritable Bowel Syndrome].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) stimulation of "Shangjuxu" (ST 37, Lower Confluent point) and "Tianshu" (ST 25, Front-Mu point) on visceral pain and expression of colonic tryptase(Try), proteinase-activated receptor 2(PAR-2)，transient receptor potential channel vanilloid subfamily member 1 (TPRV 1)，substance P (SP) and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) in rats with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), so as to explore its mechanisms underlying improvement of IBS. METHODS: Forty male Sprague Dawley rats were equally randomized into normal control (control), model, medication and EA groups (n＝10 in each). The IBS model was established by chronic acute combining stress (CACS, water deprivation, fasting, tail clamping, forced swimming in ice water, restraint, etc.) for 21 days. Rats of the medication group were treated by gavage of Pinaverium Bromide (1 mg/mL, 15 mg/kg), once daily for 14 d. EA (10 Hz/50 Hz, 0.2－0.3 mA) was applied to bilateral ST 37 and ST 25 for 30 min, once daily for 14 d. The muscular withdrawal reflex (AWR) of both abdomen and buttock was detected by colorectal distension (CRD) with a water-filled balloon for examining the visceral hypersensitivity. The number of mast cells in the colonic tissue was counted after toluidine blue stain. The immunoactivity of colonic Try was determined by immunochemistry and the expression of colonic PAR-2, TRVP 1, SP and CGRP proteins detected by Western blot. RESULTS: After modeling, the body weight was significantly decreased in IBS rats of the model, medication and EA groups compared with their own individual pre-treatment and with the control group (P<0.01), and markedly higher in both medication and EA groups than in the model group (P<0.05, P<0.01). The intra-colonic volume thresholds for inducing abdominal and hip AWR were significantly lower in the model group than in the normal control group (P<0.01), and obviously higher in both medication and EA groups than in the model group (P<0.05，P<0.01). The AWR scores of intra-colorectal balloon at volumes of 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 mL of water were significantly higher in the model group than in the control group (P<0.01), and considerably lower in the EA and medication groups than in the model group (P<0.01). The number of colonic MC and the expression levels of colonic Try, PAR-2, TRPV 1, SP and CGRP proteins were significantly higher in the model group than in the control group (P<0.01), and obviously decreased in both medication and EA groups relevant to the model group (P<0.01). Comparison between the medication and EA groups showed that the decreased expression levels of colonic PAR-2, TRPV 1, SP and CGRP proteins were significantly lower in the EA group than in the medication group (P<0.05), but no significant differences were found between the two groups in intra-colonic volumes for inducing AWR, AWR scores, body weight, and colonic MC number and Try immunoactivity levels (P>0.05)．. CONCLUSION: EA of ST 37 and ST 25 can relieve visceral hypersensitivity in IBS rats, which may be associated with its effects in down-regulating the number of MC and the expression of PAR-2, TRVP 1, SP, CGRP and Try proteins in the colonic tissue.

[Effect of Catgut Implantation on Spatial Learning-memory Ability, Expression of Hippocampal Protein Kinase C Interacting Protein 1 and GluR 2 and Ca2+ Content in Rats with Chronic Ischemic Cognitive Impairment].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of catgut embedment at "Baihui" (GV 20), "Dazhui" (GV 14), etc. on learning-memory ability, expression of hippocampal protein kinase C interacting protein 1 (PICK 1) and glutamate receptor 2 (GluR 2) proteins and level of calcium ions, so as to explore its mechanism underlying improvement of vascular cognitive impairment. METHODS: A total of 56 male SD rats were randomly divided into sham operation, model, catgut embedment and medication groups (n=14 in each). The chronic ischemic cognitive impairment model was established by permanent occlusion of bilate-ral common carotid arteries. The catgut embedment was applied to GV 20, GV 14, "Shenshu" (BL 23) and "Xuanzhong" (GB 39), once a week, for 4 weeks. Rats of the medication group received intraperitoneal injection of monosialate tetrahexose ganglioside sodium (GM-1, 0.33 mg/kg), once daily for 4 weeks. The rats' learning-memory ability was detected by Morris water maze tasks, pathological changes of hippocampal Nissl's bodies were tested by Nissl staining. The expression levels of PICK 1 and GluR 2 proteins in the hippocampus were detected by Western bolt (WB), and the concentration of calcium ions in the hippocampus tissue was measured by Bicinchoninic acid (BCA) assay. RESULTS: After modeling, the mean escape latencies of place navigation test were significantly increased while the crossing times of target platform quadrant of space probing test notably decreased in the model, catgut embedment and medication groups compared with their own individual pre-modeling (P<0.01). Following the treatment, the increased mean escape latencies and decreased crossing times were markedly reversed in both catgut embedment and medication groups relevant to the model group (P<0.01, P<0.05). Nissl staining showed that after mode-ling, a smaller amount of Nissl bodies with dispersing arrangement, reduction in cellular volume, and loss of large amount of cells with vague structure, and hyperchromatic nuclear pyknosis were found in the hippocampus tissue, which was relatively milder in both catgut embedment and medication groups. The hippocampal PICK 1 protein expression and the calcium ion concentration were obviously higher in the model group than in the sham operation group (P<0.01), and significantly lower in both embedment and medication groups than in the model group (P<0.01, P<0.05), while hippocampal GluR 2 protein expression was obviously lower in the model group than in the sham operation group (P<0.01), and markedly higher in both embedment and medication groups than in the model group (P<0.05, P<0.01). No significant differences were found between the embedment and medication groups in the abovementioned indexes (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: Catgut implantation at GV 20 etc. can effectively improve the learning-memory ability in rats with chronic ischemic cognitive impairment, which may be related to its effects in down-regulating the expression of PICK 1 and calcium ion concentration and up-regulating the expression of AMPA receptor subunit GluR 2 protein in the hippocampus.

Generating broadband vortex modes in ring-core fiber by using a plasmonic q-plate.

A mode convertor was proposed and investigated for generating vortex modes in a ring-core fiber based on a plasmonic q-plate (PQP), which is composed of specially organized L-shaped resonator (LSR) arrays. A multicore fiber was used to transmit fundamental modes, and the LSR arrays were used to modulate phases of these fundamental modes. Behind the PQP, the transmitted fundamental modes with gradient phase distribution can be considered as the incident lights for generating broadband vortex modes in the ring-core fiber filter. The topological charges of generated vortex modes can be various by using an optical PQP with different q, and the chirality of the generated vortex mode can be controlled by the sign of q and handedness of the incident circularly polarized light. The operation bandwidth is 800 nm in the range of 1200-2000 nm, which covers six communication bands from the O band to the U band. The separation of vortex modes also was addressed by using a dual ring-core fiber. The mode convertor is of potential interest for connecting a traditional network and vortex communication network.

Perfect vortex in three-dimensional multifocal array.

We proposed an approach for creating three-dimensional (3D) multifocal perfect vortices arrays by using a high numerical aperture objective. The position, orbital angular momentum states, number and diameter of the perfect vortices can be freely modulated by a special designed hybrid phase plate (HPP). HPP could be calculated by 3D phase shifting expression which is derived from Fourier transform theory of the Debye diffraction integral. Furthermore, we developed a novel pixel checkerboard method for adding phase information into the HPP. The segmentation of HPP is related to vortex quality and intensity uniformity. This method could fully use each pixel to modulate the light, since the spatial light modulator has to be used. Small size lattices could generate high quality and uniform intensity vortex arrays in tight focusing region, which may have potential applications in coupling, optical coding and decoding.

Excitation and separation of vortex modes in twisted air-core fiber.

An air-core fiber imposed by torsion is investigated in this paper. We refer to this kind of fiber as twisted air-core fiber (TAF). It has been demonstrated that the eigenstates of the TAF consist of guided optical vortex waves with different propagation constants of a different effective index. With the increase of the twist rate, TAF could separate the OAM modes which are near degenerate or degenerate in the air-core fiber. The separation of OAM modes in TAF is conductive to ultralong distance propagation with low crosstalk. TAF could be considered as an ideal candidate fiber for OAM based optical communication. Moreover, we investigated the twisted air-core photonic crystal fiber (TAPCF) which can improve the relative energy distribution of the OAM modes. Compared with TAF, more energy is located in the ring shaped core, which is conductive to ultralong distance propagation. TAF and TAPCF are of potential interest for increasing channel capacity in optical telecommunications, and the result is also of interest to the photonic crystal community.

[Effect of shengbanfang on CYP3A1 activities of Sprague-Dawley rat].

OBJECTIVE: To study the influences of Shengbanfang on CYP3A1 activities of SD rat and provide suggestions for drug combinations. METHODS: 25 male SD rats were devided into 5 groups randomly,and treated with saline( NS, ig, 10 mg/(kg/d) ,qd,14 d), dexamethasone (DEX, ig, 100 mg/(kg x d), qd, 3 d), high dose of Shengbanfang (HD, ig, 8.645 g/kg, bid, 14 d), middle dose of Shengbanfang (MD, ig, 4.322 g/kg, bid, 14 d) and low dose of Shengbanfang (LD, ig, 2.161 g/kg, bid, 14 d), respectively. The HPLC method was established and validated to determine the productive velocity of 6beta-hydroxytestosterone and measure the activity of CYP3Al. RESULTS: Under the optimized incubation conditions, the productive rates of 6beta-hydroxytestosterone of HD, MD, LD, NS and DEX, groups were (55.82 +/- 5.97), (65.10 +/- 6.83), (60.89 +/- 6.53), (62.17 +/- 6.55), (126.73 +/- 15.40) micromol/(L x mg pro x min). There were significant differences between Shengbanfang groups compared with dexamethasone group, but there was no significant difference between Shengbanfang groups and the control group (NS). CONCLUSION: Shengbanfang has no induce effect on the enzymic activity of CYP3Al in SD rats.