Detection of Low-Concentration Biological Samples Based on a QBIC Terahertz Metamaterial Sensor.

Quasi-bound state in the continuum (QBIC) can effectively enhance the interaction of terahertz (THz) wave with matter due to the tunable high-Q property, which has a strong potential application in the detection of low-concentration biological samples in the THz band. In this paper, a novel THz metamaterial sensor with a double-chain-separated resonant cavity structure based on QBIC is designed and fabricated. The process of excitation of the QBIC mode is verified and the structural parameters are optimized after considering the ohmic loss by simulations. The simulated refractive index sensitivity of the sensor is up to 544 GHz/RIU, much higher than those of recently reported THz metamaterial sensors. The sensitivity of the proposed metamaterial sensor is confirmed in an experiment by detecting low-concentration lithium citrate (LC) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) solutions. The limits of detection (LoDs) are obtained to be 0.0025 mg/mL (12 µM) for LC and 0.03125 mg/mL (0.47 µM) for BSA, respectively, both of which excel over most of the reported results in previous studies. These results indicate that the proposed THz metamaterial sensor has excellent sensing performances and can well be applied to the detection of low-concentration biological samples.

Effects of SpsNAC042 transgenic Populus hopeiensis on root development, leaf morphology and stress resistance.

To identify the function of the SpsNAC042 gene and its response to salt and drought stress, the SpsNAC042 gene was transformed into Populus hopeiensis by the Agrobacterium-mediated leaf disc method, and the phenotypic, physiological changes and related genes expression of transgenic lines were analyzed. The results showed that the number and length of roots of transgenic lines increased significantly. The leaves of transgenic lines curled inward. Under salt and simulated drought stress, the transgenic lines showed improved tolerance to salt and drought. The activities of SOD, POD, CAT and proline content in the transgenic lines were significantly increased, and the reduction rates of total chlorophyll and MDA content were significantly decreased, which indicated that the transgenic lines showed strong physiological responses under stress. Meanwhile, the gene expression of MPK6, SOS1, HKT1 and P5CS1 were significantly upregulated, and the gene expression of PRODH1 was significantly downregulated, which preliminarily verified the stress regulation mechanism that SpsNAC042 might activate. The above results showed that the SpsNAC042 gene could promote root development, make leaf morphology curl, and enhance P. hopeiensis tolerance to stress.

Terahertz spectroscopy detection of zinc citrate in flour and milk powder mixtures.

Zinc citrate (ZC) has been widely used in food as an important nutritional supplement. Accurate detection of ZC in food is important for health and safety. In this study, THz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) is used to quantitatively detect ZC in flour and milk powder mixtures. In our research, 15 different contents of ZC in flour and milk powder mixtures were prepared and measured by THz-TDS. A partial least squares (PLS) model was established based on the quantitative analysis of the absorption coefficient data of these two mixtures at 0.5-3.0 THz. The R2 and rms error (RMSE) given by the PLS model prediction were, respectively, 0.999 and 0.14% ZC in flour and 0.999 and 0.20% ZC in milk mixtures, indicating the predictions of the PLS model are in excellent agreement with the experimental measurements. The results show that combining THz-TDS with the PLS model can be used for accurate, quantitative analyses of ZC in food mixtures.

Study of Thermal Expansion Coefficient of Graphene via Raman Micro-Spectroscopy: Revisited.

The thermal expansion coefficient (TEC) of a 2D material is a fundamental parameter for both material property and applications. A joint study is hereby reported, using Raman microspectroscopy and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, of the substrate effects on thermal properties of graphene. It is found that besides the lateral strain induced by the substrate, out-of-plane coupling strongly affects the temperature-dependent vibrational modes and TEC of graphene. MD simulation shows significant reduction of the density of states for longer wavelength out-of-plane vibrations when the graphene is supported on an alkane substrate. The negative TEC of freestanding graphene becomes smaller when out-of-plane rippling is suppressed. In order to measure TEC of 2D materials with the out-of-plane coupling being taken into consideration, a Raman microspectroscopic scheme to separate the contributions of lateral strain and out-of-plane coupling to TEC is developed. The TEC of graphene on octadecyltrichlorosilane substrate is found to be (-0.6 ± 0.5) × 10-6 K-1 at room temperature, which is fundamentally smaller than that of freestanding graphene. These results shed light on the fundamental understanding of the interaction between 2D material and substrate, and offer a general recipe for studying separately in-plane and out-of-plane couplings on supported materials.

Struvite-type AMgPO4·6H2O (A = NH4, K): Two Natural Deep-Ultraviolet Transparent Nonlinear Optical Crystals.

Deep-ultraviolet (DUV) nonlinear optical (NLO) materials play vital roles in diverse fields. Unfortunately, only the KBe2BO3F2 crystal has found commercial applications so far. Therefore, the discovery of new DUV NLO crystals is still urgent. As we all know, digging into the properties of existing crystals is also an effective way to obtain new NLO crystals. Herein, two natural asymmetric orthophosphates AMgPO4·6H2O (A = NH4, K) are proposed. Although their structures and some properties such as infrared spectra, thermal properties, and dielectric properties have been previously characterized, their NLO properties have not been reported. Thus, in this work, these two natural DUV transparent orthophosphates NH4MgPO4·6H2O (NMP) and KMgPO4·6H2O (KMP) were successfully acquired by a simple slow evaporation method. The single-crystal X-ray diffraction data indicate that NMP and KMP are isomorphic and that both belong to the Pmn21 space group of the orthorhombic system. Remarkably, NMP and KMP possess short cutoff edges below 190 nm, and their second-harmonic generation (SHG) efficiencies are 0.62 and 0.80 times that of KH2PO4(KDP), respectively; furthermore, they can achieve type-I phase matching at 1064 nm.

A first-principles study on the electronic and optical properties of a type-II C2N/g-ZnO van der Waals heterostructure.

The structural, electronic and optical properties of a new van der Waals heterostructure, C2N/g-ZnO, composed of C2N and g-ZnO monolayers with an intrinsic type-II band alignment and a direct bandgap of 0.89 eV at the Γ point, are extensively studied using first-principles density functional theory calculations. The results indicate that the special optoelectronic properties of the constructed heterostructure mainly originate from the interlayer coupling and electron transfer between the C2N and g-ZnO monolayers, and the photogenerated electrons and holes are located on the C2N and g-ZnO layers, respectively, which reduces the recombination probability of the electron-hole pairs. According to Bader charge analysis, there are 0.029 electrons transferred from g-ZnO to C2N to form a built-in electric field of ∼9.5 eV at the interface. Furthermore, the tunability of the electronic properties of the C2N/g-ZnO heterostructure under vertical strain and electric field is explored. Under different strains, the type-II band alignment properties of the heterostructure are retained and the vertical compressive strain has a greater influence on the bandgap modulation than the vertical stretching strain. The implemented electric field also does not change the type-II band alignment but changes the bandgap of the heterostructure from 1.30 to 0.58 eV when the electric field strength varies from -0.6 to 0.6 V Å-1. In addition, the absorption spectrum of the C2N/g-ZnO heterostructure under solar light is also studied. The absorption range of the heterostructure varies from the ultraviolet to near-infrared region with the absorption intensity in the order of 105 cm-1. All of these studies indicate that the C2N/g-ZnO heterostructure has excellent electronic and optical properties and promising applications in nanoelectronics and optoelectronics.

Image fusion based on multiscale transform and sparse representation to enhance terahertz images.

High-quality terahertz (THz) images are vital to integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing. Due to the unique sensitivity of THz waves to different materials, the images obtained from the point-spread function (PSF) model have fewer image details and less texture information in some frequency bands. This paper presents an image fusion technique to enhance the resolution of THz IC images. The source images obtained from the PSF model are processed by a fusion method combining a multiscale transform (MST) and sparse representation (SR). The low-pass band is handled by sparse representation, and the high-pass band is fused by the conventional "max-absolute" rule. From both objective and visual perspectives, four popular multiscale transforms-the Laplacian pyramid, the ratio of low-pass pyramids, the dual-tree complex wavelet transform and the curvelet transform-are thoroughly compared at different decomposition levels ranging from one to four. This work demonstrates the feasibility of using image fusion to enhance the resolution of THz IC images.

An Optically Tunable THz Modulator Based on Nanostructures of Silicon Substrates.

Nanostructures can induce light multireflection, enabling strong light absorption and efficient photocarrier generation. In this work, silicon nanostructures, including nanocylinders, nanotips, and nanoholes, were proposed as all-optical broadband THz modulators. The modulation properties of these modulators were simulated and compared with finite element method calculations. It is interesting to note that the light reflectance values from all nanostructure were greatly suppressed, showing values of 26.22%, 21.04%, and 0.63% for nanocylinder, nanohole, and nanotip structures, respectively, at 2 THz. The calculated results show that under 808 nm illumination light, the best modulation performance is achieved in the nanotip modulator, which displays a modulation depth of 91.63% with a pumping power of 60 mW/mm2 at 2 THz. However, under shorter illumination wavelengths, such as 532 nm, the modulation performance for all modulators deteriorates and the best performance is found with the nanohole-based modulator rather than the nanotip-based one. To further clarify the effects of the nanostructure and wavelength on the THz modulation, a graded index layer model was established and the simulation results were explained. This work may provide a further theoretical guide for the design of optically tunable broadband THz modulators.

Terahertz Spectroscopic Signatures of Microcystin Aptamer Solution Probed with a Microfluidic Chip.

Terahertz signature detection of biological samples in aqueous solution remains a great challenge due to the strong terahertz absorption of water. Here we propose a new preparation process for fabricating a microfluidic chip and use it as an effective sensor to probe the terahertz absorption signatures of microcystin aptamer (a linear single-stranded DNA with 60 nucleotides) dissolved in TE buffer with different concentrations. The microfluidic chip made of silicon includes thousands of 2.4 µm × 2.4 µm square-cross-section channels. One repeatable terahertz absorption signature is detected and recognized around 830 GHz, fitted to a Lorentz oscillator. This signature is theorized to originate from the bending of hydrogen bonds formed between adjacent hydrated DNA bases surrounded by water molecules. Furthermore, the low-lying vibrational modes are also investigated by molecular dynamics simulations which suggest that strong resonant oscillations are highly probable in the 815⁻830 GHz frequency band.

The all-optical modulator in dielectric-loaded waveguide with graphene-silicon heterojunction structure.

All-optical modulators based on graphene show great promise for on-chip optical interconnects. However, the modulation performance of all-optical modulators is usually based on the interaction between graphene and the fiber, limiting their potential in high integration. Based on this point, an all-optical modulator in a dielectric-loaded waveguide (DLW) with a graphene-silicon heterojunction structure (GSH) is proposed. The DLW raises the waveguide mode, which provides a strong light-graphene interaction. Sufficient tuning of the graphene Fermi energy beyond the Pauli blocking effect is obtained with the presented GSH structure. Under the modulation light with a wavelength of 532 nm and a power of 60 mW, a modulation efficiency of 0.0275 dB µm-1 is achieved for light with a communication wavelength of 1.55 µm in the experiment. This modulator has the advantage of having a compact footprint, which may make it a candidate for achieving a highly integrated all-optical modulator.

Second-order nonlinear optical properties of bulk GeC polytypes, g-GeC and corresponding nanotubes: first-principles calculations.

Very recently, researchers have found that low-dimensional materials display more intriguing second-order nonlinear optical (NLO) phenomena and possess larger second-order NLO susceptibilities than the corresponding bulk forms. Here, we perform a systematic first-principles study of the second-order NLO properties and linear electro-optical coefficients of GeC bulk polytypes, g-GeC and corresponding nanotubes. Remarkably, the second-order NLO susceptibility χ(2) of g-GeC and corresponding nanotubes can be comparable with that of the archetypical NLO semiconductor GaAs. Therefore, g-GeC and corresponding nanotubes have potential applications in NLO and electro-optical devices. We also quantitatively calculate the second-order NLO response contributions from the high density of states near the VBM via dividing NLO susceptibilities into contributions from different valence bands, revealing that the high density of states is the origin of the strong NLO responses in g-GeC and corresponding nanotubes. Such a mechanism will help to find excellent NLO materials more effectively. Moreover, the prominent features in the spectra of χ(2)(-2ω, ω, ω) of GeC polytypes are analyzed in terms of single- and double-photon resonances.

Layer-independent and layer-dependent nonlinear optical properties of two-dimensional GaX (X = S, Se, Te) nanosheets.

Recently researchers have found that the non-resonant second-harmonic generation (SHG) intensity of the GaSe monolayer (ML) is the strongest among all two-dimensional (2D) atomic layered crystals. Here we perform a systematic first-principles study of the SHG coefficient of GaX (X = S, Se, Te) monolayers (MLs) and few-layers. We find that the non-resonant SHG intensity of the GaS ML can be comparable with that of the GaSe ML, while the non-resonant SHG intensity of the GaTe ML is much stronger than that of the GaSe ML. Furthermore, the magnitudes of SHG coefficients of the few-layers exfoliated from bulk ε-GaSe and newly constructed N1-GaSe crystals are very close to that of the GaSe ML, showing no dependence on the layer number. The magnitude of the SHG coefficient of the trilayer exfoliated from the bulk ß-GaSe crystals is around 1/3 of that of the GaSe ML, decreasing rapidly with the layer number. This study indicates that a strong SHG response can be obtained in a wide range of monolayers and few-layers. Moreover, we point out that one can identify the layer number and the stacking sequence of 2D nanosheets by measuring their elastic constants and SHG coefficients.

Second harmonic generation property of monolayer TMDCs and its potential application in producing terahertz radiation.

Second harmonic generation (SHG) properties in two-dimensional (2D) transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) have aroused great interest. However, until now SHG for TMDC monolayer alloys is seldom investigated. Meanwhile, there is considerable controversy over the static SHG coefficients of monolayer MoS2. The feasibility to produce terahertz (THz) radiation via SHG in pure and alloyed TMDCs has never been reported. We first calculate the SHG coefficients of monolayer MoS2, MoSe2, and MoS2(1-x)Se2x using the independent particle approximation plus scissors correction. We then simulate their THz absorption by applying density function perturbation theory plus the Lorentzian line and try to calculate their zero-frequency THz refractive index and birefringence. The physical property of MoS2(1-x)Se2x alloys is simulated by considering various combinations. Results indicate that monolayer MoS2, MoSe2, and MoS2(1-x)Se2x possess large static SHG coefficients and THz birefringence and display low absorption over broadband THz frequencies. Therefore, they have applications in producing THz radiation via SHG. This study demonstrates that THz radiation can be attained in a large number of monolayers and few-layers and will extend applications of 2D materials. Moreover, it is possible to identify the magnitude of static coefficients of single-layer MoS2 by measuring THz intensities.

Nondestructive Evaluation of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composites Using Reflective Terahertz Imaging.

Terahertz (THz) time-domain spectroscopy (TDS) imaging is considered a nondestructive evaluation method for composite materials used for examining various defects of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites and fire-retardant coatings in the reflective imaging modality. We demonstrate that hidden defects simulated by Teflon artificial inserts are imaged clearly in the perpendicular polarization mode. The THz TDS technique is also used to measure the thickness of thin fire-retardant coatings on CFRP composites with a typical accuracy of about 10 micrometers. In addition, coating debonding is successfully imaged based on the time-delay difference of the time-domain waveforms between closely adhered and debonded sample locations.

[Progress of Detection Technology of Ultra-Broadband THz Time-Domain Spectroscopy].

Terahertz Time-Domain Spectroscopy (THz-TDS) is one of the effective coherent detection techniques. It has been widely applied in materials, chemistry, biology, security and other fields due to its capabilities such as high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), broadband detection, working at room temperature, time resolved measurement and others. Limited by the spectrum bandwidth of THz radiation and detection techniques, the measuring range of the traditional THz-TDS system is generally less than several THz, thus the spectral information of high frequencies cannot be obtained. In order to expand its application, there is an urgent need for the development of ultra-broadband (≥10 THz) THz-TDS detection techniques. This paper reviews the development and applications of main detection techniques in ultra-broadband THz-TDS. The advantages and disadvantages of these techniques are also analyzed.

[Current Status and Recent Advances in Research and Application of THz Technology in Articular Cartilage Detection].

Osteoarthritis is a common arthritis disease caused by cartilage tissue damage and degeneration, which is one of the large epidemics that affect human health. The early detection of the pathological changes of articular cartilage can greatly improve the cure rate of disease, but the relevant clinical diagnosis technology has not been developed. In recent years, the applications and researches of terahertz technology are increasingly valued and it has drawn great attention in the field of medicine. Compared with traditional methods, the terahertz radiation is low-energy and non-ionizing whose spectral-fingerprinting capability is well-known in the biological world. Meanwhile, THz technology has a great potential in diagnosis of articular cartilage early degeneration. This paper briefly introduces the physiological and pathological conditions of the articular cartilage, the current clinical techniques of articular cartilage detection. It mainly summarizes the terahertz technology used for detecting articular cartilage, including detection of animal and human cartilage respectively. At last, the challenges and development prospects of terahertz technology in articular cartilage detection are discussed.

Graphene: a partially ordered non-periodic solid.

Molecular dynamics simulations were performed to study the structural features of graphene over a wide range of temperatures from 50 to 4000 K using the PPBE-G potential [D. Wei, Y. Song, and F. Wang, J. Chem. Phys. 134, 184704 (2011)]. This potential was developed by force matching the Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof (PBE) exchange correlation functional and has been validated previously to provide accurate potential energy surface for graphene at temperatures as high as 3000 K. Simulations with the PPBE­G potential are the best available approximation to a direct Car-Parrinello Molecular Dynamics study of graphene. One advantage of the PBE-G potential is to allow large simulation boxes to be modeled efficiently so that properties showing strong finite size effects can be studied. Our simulation box contains more than 600,000 C atoms and is one of the largest graphene boxes ever modeled. With the PPBE-G potential, the thermal-expansion coefficient is negative up to 4000 K. With a large box and an accurate potential, the critical exponent for the scaling properties associated with the normal-normal and height-height correlation functions was confirmed to be 0.85. This exponent remains constant up to 4000 K suggesting graphene to be in the deeply cooled regime even close to the experimental melting temperature. The reduced peak heights in the radial distribution function of graphene show an inverse power law dependence to distance, which indicates that a macroscopic graphene sheet will lose long-range crystalline order as predicted by the Mermin-Wagner instability. Although graphene loses long-range translational order, it retains long range orientational order as indicated by its orientational correlation function; graphene is thus partially ordered but not periodic.

Evolution stage identification and spatial pattern analysis of Nitraria tangutorum nebkhas based on Gaofen-2 satellite data.

The quantitative extraction and evolution stage identification of the Nitraria tangutorum nebkhas are the basis for the restoration of regional plants and the reconstruction of degraded ecosystems. In this paper, the Nitraria tangutorum nebkha in Dengkou County of China was taken as the research object. Through the spectral and texture information of Gaofen-2 satellite image, the quantitative extraction of Nitraria tangutorum nebkha area and coverage information was completed using methods of gray threshold method, mathematical morphology, FCLSU mixed pixel decomposition, kernel density spatial analysis; the current evolution stage of the Nitraria tangutorum nebkha was identified, and their spatial distribution characteristics were analyzed. The results showed that: (1) The user accuracy and mapping accuracy of Nitraria tangutorum nebkha extracted from Random Forest combined with object-oriented classification method were up to 90.32%. (2) The method proposed can achieve an accuracy of 93.76% in extracting the spatial position of Nitraria tangutorum nebkhas. (3) The evolution of Nitraria tangutorum nebkhas can be divided into three stages: embryonic or developmental stage, stable stage, and declining stage, with a proportion of 60.70%, 20.97%, and 18.33%, respectively; The Nitraria tangutorum nebkhas in the study area is mainly in their embryonic or developmental stage, and the proportion of Nitraria tangutorum nebkhas in the declining stage is also large. It can provide technical and theoretical support for the precise extraction of nebkhas in arid and semi-arid desert areas, the identification of their current evolutionary stages, and the study of their spatial distribution patterns.

Terahertz spectroscopy of citrate Salts: Effects of crystalline state and crystallization water.

Citrate salts are widely used as food additives and medicines for health and treatment. Accurate and fast detection of citrate salts is most important in food industry and medicine health. In this work, terahertz (THz) time-domain spectroscopy was used to detect and analyze different citrate salts and differentiate their crystalline hydrates. Effects of the crystalline state, the crystallization water and the metal cation on the THz spectra of citrate salts were investigated. Results indicate the crystalline states of the citrate salt samples strongly influence their THz featuring absorption peaks and citrate salts with crystallization water have larger absorption coefficients at the same frequency and higher possibility of existing featuring absorption peaks in comparison with citrate salts without crystallization water. Size of the metal cation also influences the THz absorption peak of the citrate salt and a small cation radius results in a large absorption peak frequency. This work illustrates the terahertz spectroscopy can be well used as a new technique to detect the citrate salts and differentiate their crystalline hydrates.

Spectral filtering method for improvement of detection accuracy of Mg, Cu, Mn and Cr elements in aluminum alloys using femtosecond LIBS.

In this work, magnesium (Mg), copper (Cu), manganese (Mn) and chromium (Cr) in aluminum alloy samples were quantified by femtosecond laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (fs-LIBS). The different parameters affecting the experimental results, including the laser pulse energy, moving speed of the 2D platform and spectral average number were optimized. The background signal preprocessing methods of median filtering (MF corrected) and Savitzky-Golay filtering (SG corrected) algorithms were used and the effect of the LIBS spectral analysis in the experiment investigated. The calibration curves of Mg, Cu, Mn and Cr elements were established separately and their corresponding detection limits (LODs) were calculated. After background correction, the LODs of Mg, Cu, Mn and Cr elements in MF corrected were 54.52, 11.69, 7.33 and 27.72 ppm, and in SG corrected were 59.15, 17.48, 14.75 and 31.97 ppm. The LODs of these elements in MF corrected and SG corrected have 1.4-5.2 and 1.2-2.5 improvement factors compared to those obtained using the fs-LIBS technique. This work demonstrates that background signal preprocessing methods are very helpful for improving analytical sensitivity and accuracy in quantitative analyses of aluminum alloys.