Despeckling fly's eye homogenizer for single mode laser diodes.

A novel fly's eye homogenizer for single mode laser diodes is presented. This technology overcomes the speckle problem that has been unavoidable for fly's eye homogenizers used with coherent light sources such as single mode laser diodes. Temporal and spatial coherence are reduced simultaneously by introducing short pulse driving of the injection current and a staircase element. Speckle has been dramatically reduced to 5% from 87% compared to a conventional system and a uniform laser line illumination was obtained by the proposed fly's eye homogenizer with a single mode UV-blue laser diode for the first time. A new spatial coherence function was mathematically formulated to model the proposed system and was applied to a partially coherent intensity formula that was newly developed in this study from Wolf's theory to account for the results.

A chemical free, nanotechnology-based method for airborne bacterial inactivation using engineered water nanostructures.

Airborne pathogens are associated with the spread of infectious diseases and increased morbidity and mortality. Herein we present an emerging chemical free, nanotechnology-based method for airborne pathogen inactivation. This technique is based on transforming atmospheric water vapor into Engineered Water Nano-Structures (EWNS) via electrospray. The generated EWNS possess a unique set of physical, chemical, morphological and biological properties. Their average size is 25 nm and they contain reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as hydroxyl and superoxide radicals. In addition, EWNS are highly electrically charged (10 electrons per particle on average). A link between their electric charge and the reduction of their evaporation rate was illustrated resulting in an extended lifetime (over an hour) at room conditions. Furthermore, it was clearly demonstrated that the EWNS have the ability to interact with and inactivate airborne bacteria. Finally, inhaled EWNS were found to have minimal toxicological effects, as illustrated in an acute in-vivo inhalation study using a mouse model. In conclusion, this novel, chemical free, nanotechnology-based method has the potential to be used in the battle against airborne infectious diseases.