scholarly journals Visible Discrimination of Broadband Infrared Light by Dye-Enhanced Upconversion in Lanthanide-Doped Nanocrystals

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles G. Dupuy ◽  
Thomas L. Allen ◽  
George M. Williams ◽  
David Schut

Optical upconversion of near infrared light to visible light is an attractive way to capture the optical energy or optical information contained in low-energy photons that is otherwise lost to the human eye or to certain photodetectors and solar cells. Until the recent application of broadband absorbing optical antennas, upconversion efficiency in lanthanide-doped nanocrystals was limited by the weak, narrow atomic absorption of a handful of sensitizer elements. In this work, we extend the role of the optical antenna to provide false-color, visible discrimination between bands of infrared radiation. By pairing different optical antenna dyes to specific nanoparticle compositions, unique visible emission is associated with different bands of infrared excitation. In one material set, the peak emission was increased 10-fold, and the width of the spectral response was increased more than 10-fold.

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Pucelik ◽  
Luis G. Arnaut ◽  
Janusz M. Dąbrowski

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) augments the host antitumor immune response, but the role of the PDT effect on the tumor microenvironment in dependence on the type of photosensitizer and/or therapeutic protocols has not been clearly elucidated. We employed three bacteriochlorins (F2BOH, F2BMet and Cl2BHep) of different polarity that absorb near-infrared light (NIR) and generated a large amount of reactive oxygen species (ROS) to compare the PDT efficacy after various drug-to-light intervals: 15 min. (V-PDT), 3h (E-PDT) and 72h (C-PDT). We also performed the analysis of the molecular mechanisms of PDT crucial for the generation of the long-lasting antitumor immune response. PDT-induced damage affected the integrity of the host tissue and developed acute (protocol-dependent) local inflammation, which in turn led to the infiltration of neutrophils and macrophages. In order to further confirm this hypothesis, a number of proteins in the plasma of PDT-treated mice were identified. Among a wide range of cytokines (IL-6, IL-10, IL-13, IL-15, TNF-α, GM-CSF), chemokines (KC, MCP-1, MIP1α, MIP1β, MIP2) and growth factors (VEGF) released after PDT, an important role was assigned to IL-6. PDT protocols optimized for studied bacteriochlorins led to a significant increase in the survival rate of BALB/c mice bearing CT26 tumors, but each photosensitizer (PS) was more or less potent, depending on the applied DLI (15 min, 3 h or 72 h). Hydrophilic (F2BOH) and amphiphilic (F2BMet) PSs were equally effective in V-PDT (>80 cure rate). F2BMet was the most efficient in E-PDT (DLI = 3h), leading to a cure of 65 % of the animals. Finally, the most powerful PS in the C-PDT (DLI = 72 h) regimen turned out to be the most hydrophobic compound (Cl2BHep), allowing 100 % of treated animals to be cured at a light dose of only 45 J/cm2.


2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yinming Shao ◽  
Aaron Sternbach ◽  
Brian Kim ◽  
Andrey Rikhter ◽  
Xinyi Xu ◽  
...  

Abstract Metals are canonical plasmonic media at infrared and optical wavelengths allowing one to guide and manipulate light at sub-diffractional length scales. A special form of optical waveguiding is offered by highly anisotropic crystals revealing different signs of the dielectric function along orthogonal directions. These latter types of media are classified as hyperbolic and many crystalline insulators, semiconductors and artificial metal-based metamaterials belong to that class. Layered anisotropic metals are also anticipated to support hyperbolic waveguiding. Yet this behavior remains elusive primarily because interband processes introduce extreme losses and arrest light propagation. Here, we report on the observation of propagating hyperbolic waves in a prototypical layered nodal-line semimetal ZrSiSe. The unique electronic structure with touching energy bands at nodal points/lines suppresses losses and enables a hyperbolic regime at the telecommunications frequencies. The observed waveguiding in metallic ZrSiSe is a product of polaritonic hybridization between near-infrared light and long-lived nodal-line plasmons. By mapping the energy-momentum dispersion of the nodal-line hyperbolic modes in ZrSiSe we inquired into the role of additional screening associated with the surface states.


2019 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-192
Author(s):  
Marisia A. Fikiet ◽  
David Tuschel ◽  
Vladimir V. Ermolenkov ◽  
Igor K. Lednev

Glass is a unique material that is often encountered in chemical and biological studies as a convenient sample holder (vial or microscope slide in particular). If the sample is probed with light in fluorescence and Raman spectroscopic experiments, the contribution from glass is often present and can obscure the spectra from the analyte of interest. It is important to understand the nature of glass photoemission properties to control this potential interference. The Raman spectrum of glass is dominated by peaks around 500 and 1000 cm–1 at the excitation with UV and visible light. A strong broad emission band centered at 880 nm appears when glass is irradiated with near-infrared light, a popular 785 nm laser light in particular. We proved experimentally in this study that this broad band is due to glass photoluminescence and not Raman scattering. In addition, three narrow components were found to contribute to this band, which have different excitation profiles indicating that they originate from three different species or the same species experiencing three different types of local environments. It has been hypothesized that these peaks could be due to the presence of rare earth impurities in the glass. Further study is necessary to identify these luminescent centers.


2017 ◽  
Vol 199 (18) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindsey O'Neal ◽  
Min-Hyung Ryu ◽  
Mark Gomelsky ◽  
Gladys Alexandre

ABSTRACT Bacterial chemotaxis receptors provide the sensory inputs that inform the direction of navigation in changing environments. Recently, we described the bacterial second messenger cyclic di-GMP (c-di-GMP) as a novel regulator of a subclass of chemotaxis receptors. In Azospirillum brasilense, c-di-GMP binds to a chemotaxis receptor, Tlp1, and modulates its signaling function during aerotaxis. Here, we further characterize the role of c-di-GMP in aerotaxis using a novel dichromatic optogenetic system engineered for manipulating intracellular c-di-GMP levels in real time. This system comprises a red/near-infrared-light-regulated diguanylate cyclase and a blue-light-regulated c-di-GMP phosphodiesterase. It allows the generation of transient changes in intracellular c-di-GMP concentrations within seconds of irradiation with appropriate light, which is compatible with the time scale of chemotaxis signaling. We provide experimental evidence that binding of c-di-GMP to the Tlp1 receptor activates its signaling function during aerotaxis, which supports the role of transient changes in c-di-GMP levels as a means of adjusting the response of A. brasilense to oxygen gradients. We also show that intracellular c-di-GMP levels in A. brasilense change with carbon metabolism. Our data support a model whereby c-di-GMP functions to imprint chemotaxis receptors with a record of recent metabolic experience, to adjust their contribution to the signaling output, thus allowing the cells to continually fine-tune chemotaxis sensory perception to their metabolic state. IMPORTANCE Motile bacteria use chemotaxis to change swimming direction in response to changes in environmental conditions. Chemotaxis receptors sense environmental signals and relay sensory information to the chemotaxis machinery, which ultimately controls the swimming pattern of cells. In bacteria studied to date, differential methylation has been known as a mechanism to control the activity of chemotaxis receptors and modulates their contribution to the overall chemotaxis response. Here, we used an optogenetic system to perturb intracellular concentrations of the bacterial second messenger c-di-GMP to show that in some chemotaxis receptors, c-di-GMP functions in a similar feedback loop to connect the metabolic status of the cells to the sensory activity of chemotaxis receptors.


2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (6) ◽  
pp. 2657-2667
Author(s):  
Felipe Montecinos-Franjola ◽  
John Y. Lin ◽  
Erik A. Rodriguez

Noninvasive fluorescent imaging requires far-red and near-infrared fluorescent proteins for deeper imaging. Near-infrared light penetrates biological tissue with blood vessels due to low absorbance, scattering, and reflection of light and has a greater signal-to-noise due to less autofluorescence. Far-red and near-infrared fluorescent proteins absorb light >600 nm to expand the color palette for imaging multiple biosensors and noninvasive in vivo imaging. The ideal fluorescent proteins are bright, photobleach minimally, express well in the desired cells, do not oligomerize, and generate or incorporate exogenous fluorophores efficiently. Coral-derived red fluorescent proteins require oxygen for fluorophore formation and release two hydrogen peroxide molecules. New fluorescent proteins based on phytochrome and phycobiliproteins use biliverdin IXα as fluorophores, do not require oxygen for maturation to image anaerobic organisms and tumor core, and do not generate hydrogen peroxide. The small Ultra-Red Fluorescent Protein (smURFP) was evolved from a cyanobacterial phycobiliprotein to covalently attach biliverdin as an exogenous fluorophore. The small Ultra-Red Fluorescent Protein is biophysically as bright as the enhanced green fluorescent protein, is exceptionally photostable, used for biosensor development, and visible in living mice. Novel applications of smURFP include in vitro protein diagnostics with attomolar (10−18 M) sensitivity, encapsulation in viral particles, and fluorescent protein nanoparticles. However, the availability of biliverdin limits the fluorescence of biliverdin-attaching fluorescent proteins; hence, extra biliverdin is needed to enhance brightness. New methods for improved biliverdin bioavailability are necessary to develop improved bright far-red and near-infrared fluorescent proteins for noninvasive imaging in vivo.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Stafford ◽  
Dowon Ahn ◽  
Emily Raulerson ◽  
Kun-You Chung ◽  
Kaihong Sun ◽  
...  

Driving rapid polymerizations with visible to near-infrared (NIR) light will enable nascent technologies in the emerging fields of bio- and composite-printing. However, current photopolymerization strategies are limited by long reaction times, high light intensities, and/or large catalyst loadings. Improving efficiency remains elusive without a comprehensive, mechanistic evaluation of photocatalysis to better understand how composition relates to polymerization metrics. With this objective in mind, a series of methine- and aza-bridged boron dipyrromethene (BODIPY) derivatives were synthesized and systematically characterized to elucidate key structure-property relationships that facilitate efficient photopolymerization driven by visible to NIR light. For both BODIPY scaffolds, halogenation was shown as a general method to increase polymerization rate, quantitatively characterized using a custom real-time infrared spectroscopy setup. Furthermore, a combination of steady-state emission quenching experiments, electronic structure calculations, and ultrafast transient absorption revealed that efficient intersystem crossing to the lowest excited triplet state upon halogenation was a key mechanistic step to achieving rapid photopolymerization reactions. Unprecedented polymerization rates were achieved with extremely low light intensities (< 1 mW/cm<sup>2</sup>) and catalyst loadings (< 50 μM), exemplified by reaction completion within 60 seconds of irradiation using green, red, and NIR light-emitting diodes.


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