Selective Probing of the Penetration of Dexamethasone into Human Skin by Soft X-ray Spectromicroscopy.

Selective probing of dexamethasone in excised human skin using soft X-ray spectromicroscopy provides quantitative concentration profiles as well as two-dimensional drug distribution maps. Element- and site-selective excitation of dexamethasone at the oxygen K-edge with the lateral step width adjusted to 1 µm provides detailed information on the location of the drug in the different skin layers. The key of this work is to probe dexamethasone selectively at the carbonyl site (C3) by the O 1s → π* transition, providing also a most efficient way to quantify the drug concentration as a function of penetration depth in correlation with structural properties of the skin containing carboxyl and amide oxygen sites occurring at higher transition energy than dexamethasone. Following drug exposure for 4 h, the glucocorticoide is located in about equal amounts in the stratum corneum, the outermost horny layer of skin, and in the viable epidermis, whereas in the dermis no dexamethasone is detected. In the stratum corneum, most of the lipophilic drug is found in regions between corneocytes, where epidermal lipids are dominating.

Optical and magnetic properties of hexagonal arrays of subwavelength holes in optically thin cobalt films.

In this study, we present our experimental results on the optical, magnetic, as well as magneto-optic properties of hexagonal arrays of subwavelength holes in optically thin cobalt films. Different meshes were used with hole diameters ranging between 220 and 330 nm while the interhole distance has been kept constant at 470 nm. The hole pattern modifies completely the magnetic behavior of the cobalt films; it gives rise to an increase of the coercive field of the in-plane magnetization with increasing hole diameter and to the appearance of out-of-plane magnetization components. Magneto-optic measurements show a spectacular magneto-optic response at wavelengths where surface plasmon-polaritons are supported by the structure as deduced in optical measurements. The experiments demonstrate the ability to artificially control the magnetic and thus the magneto-optic properties in hole array structures.

Optical transmission through hexagonal arrays of subwavelength holes in thin metal films.

We have studied the light transmission through hexagonal arrays of subwavelength holes in thin gold and aluminum films, varying the film thickness between 20 and 120 nm while the hole diameter as well as the interhole distance have been kept constant at approximately 300 and approximately 500 nm, respectively. The films were characterized by means of UV-vis spectroscopy and scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM).