BACKGROUND The ability of optical coherence tomography (OCT) to visualise macrophages in vivo in coronary arteries is still controversial. We hypothesise that imaging of macrophages in OCT could be enhanced by means of superparamagnetic nanoparticles. METHODS We compared the optical backscattering and attenuation of cell pellets containing RAW 264.7 macrophages with those of macrophagic cell ...

Plasmon-resonant gold nanorods are demonstrated as low backscattering albedo contrast agents for optical coherence tomography (OCT). We define the backscattering albedo, a', as the ratio of the backscattering to extinction coefficient. Contrast agents which modify a' within the host tissue phantoms are detected with greater sensitivity by the differential OCT measurement of both a' and extincti...

Metallic-dielectric nanocomposites, including Ag-SiO2, Co-SiO2 and WC-SiC, were synthesised on silicon substrates using ion implantation. The electron field emission (FE) properties of these nanocomposites were studied and correlated to their microstructure determined from the measurements of atomic force microscopy, Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and t...

The two-dimensional momentum distributions of high-energy photoelectrons generated in the above-threshold ionization of atoms by intense laser pulses are analysed as resulting from the elastic backscattering of laser-induced returning electrons. Using this quantitative rescattering theory, we show that the returning electron wave packets are entirely determined by the properties of the laser pu...

We use analytic and numerical methods to determine the density of states of a one-dimensional electron gas coupled to a spatially random quasi-static back-scattering potential of long correlation length. Our results provide insight into the ’pseudogap’ phenomenon occurring in underdoped high-Tc superconductors, quasi-one-dimensional organic conductors and liquid metals. They demonstrate the imp...

We study theoretically a quantum dot in the quantum Hall regime that is strongly coupled to a single lead via a point contact. We find that even when the transmission through the point contact is perfect, important features of the Coulomb blockade persist. In particular, the tunneling into the dot via a second weakly coupled lead is suppressed, and shows features that can be ascribed to elastic...

The Wuhan Ionospheric Oblique Backscattering Sounding System with the addition of an antenna array (WIOBSS-AA) is the newest member of the WIOBSS family. It is a multi-channel radio system using phased-array antenna technology. The transmitting part of this radio system applies an array composed of five log-periodic antennas to form five beams that span an area to the northwest of the radar sit...

A new experimental approach to the quantitative characterization of polycrystalline microstructure by scanning electron microscopy is described. Combining automated electron backscattering diffraction with conventional scanning contrast imaging and with calibrated serial sectioning, the new method (mesoscale interface mapping system) recovers precision estimates of the 3D idealized aggregate fu...

We study how two magnetic impurities embedded in a solid can be entangled by an injected electron scattering between them and by subsequent measurement of the electron's state. We start by investigating an ideal case where only the electronic spin interacts successively through the same unitary operation with the spins of the two impurities. We find conditions for the impurity spins to be maxim...

Using an induction linac, ETA-II, we are studying the interaction of a 2 kA, 6 MeV electron beam focused to a <2 mm diameter spot on high-Z foils. A focus shift was noticed when changing from 5 mil to 40 mil tantalum foil targets. This shift was subsequently attributed to the effect of a substantial fraction of the incident electron beam backscattering from the target, reducing the net beam cur...