The bachelor’s degree in Physics at Loyola University Chicago requires both an upper-division course in Optics as well as a companion Optics Laboratory course. Recently, the laboratory course has undergone dramatic changes. Traditional weekly laboratories have been replaced with three laboratory modules, where students focus on a single topic over several weeks after which the students submit a...

Plasmonic Biosensors Metal nanostructures exhibit tremendous potentialities in biosensing applications relying on fluorescence, Raman spectroscopy, infrared absorption, and colorimetry thanks to unique plasmonic effects. In particular, nanostructured surfaces can be smartly employed for realizing chip-based bioassays with remarkable sensing performance. article number 2101133, Antonio Minopoli,...

We use a scalable optical technique to characterize more than 21 000 circular nanomechanical devices made of suspended single- and double-layer graphene on cavities with different diameters (D) and depths (g). To maximize the contrast between suspended and broken membranes we used a model for selecting the optimal color filter. The method enables parallel and automatized image processing for yi...

As important constituents of activated sludge flocs, extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) play significant roles in pollutants adsorption, the formation and maintenance of microbial aggregates, and the protection of microbes from external environmental stresses. In this work, EPS in activated sludge from a municipal wastewater treatment plant (M-WWTP) with anaerobic/anoxic/oxic (A(2)/O) pro...

BACKGROUND Freezing is commonly used for food preservation. It is usually done under constant atmospheric pressure (isobaric). While extending the life of the produce, isobaric freezing has detrimental effects. It causes loss of food weight and changes in food quality. Using thermodynamic analysis, we have developed a theoretical model of the process of freezing in a constant volume system (iso...

We describe a ratio gas-chromatographic method for determination of cortisol production rate by measuring the isotope dilution of urinary cortisol metabolites. The method was calibrated by analyzing [3H]tetrahydrocortisol and [3H]tetrahydrocortisone of known specific activities. Results are reasonably well reproducible, the coefficients of variation ranging from 8-15% of allotetrahydrocortisol/...

Tristimulus colorimetry using a digital still camera (DSC) as a colorimeter has been developed. A photograph of a sample and standard solutions was taken simultaneously with the DSC, and it was transferred to a PC. On the PC, the colors of the sample and of the standard solutions were analyzed and L* (brightness), a* (red-green component), and b* (yellow-blue component) values were determined w...

We provide an overview of our recent advances in the manipulation of wetting in inverse-opal photonic crystals. Exploiting photonic crystals with spatially patterned surface chemistry to confine the infiltration of fluids to liquidspecific spatial patterns, we developed a highly selective scheme for colorimetry, where organic liquids are distinguished based on wetting. The high selectivity of w...