Method to quantify black carbon aerosol light absorption enhancement with a mixing state index

Large uncertainties remain when estimating the warming effects of ambient black carbon (BC) aerosols on climate. One of the key challenges in modeling the radiative effects is predicting the BC light absorption enhancement, which is mainly determined by the mass ratio (MR) of non-BC coating material to BC in the population of BC-containing aerosols. For the same MR, recent research has found that the radiative absorption enhancements by BC are also controlled by its particle-to-particle heterogeneity. In this study, the BC mixing state index (χ) is developed to quantify the dispersion of ambient black carbon aerosol mixing states based on binary systems of BC and other non-black carbon components. We demonstrate that the BC light absorption enhancement increases with χ for the same MR, which indicates that χ can be employed as a factor to constrain the light absorption enhancement of ambient BC. Our framework can be further used in the model to study the radiative effects of black carbon on climate change.

Label-Free Complete Absorption Microscopy Using Second Generation Photoacoustic Remote Sensing

In the past decades, absorption modalities have emerged as powerful tools for label-free functional and structural imaging of cells and tissues. Many biomolecules present unique absorption spectra providing chromophore-specific information on properties such as chemical bonding, and sample composition. As chromophores absorb photons the absorbed energy is emitted as photons (radiative relaxation) or converted to heat and under specific conditions pressure (non-radiative relaxation). Modalities like fluorescence microscopy may capture radiative relaxation to provide contrast, while modalities like photoacoustic microscopy may leverage non-radiative heat and pressures. Here we show an all-optical non-contact total-absorption photoacoustic remote sensing (TA-PARS) microscope, which can capture both radiative and non-radiative absorption effects in a single acquisition. The TA-PARS yields an absorption metric proposed as the quantum efficiency ratio (QER), which visualizes a biomolecules proportional radiative and non-radiative absorption response. The TA-PARS provides label-free visualization of a range of biomolecules enabling convincing analogues to traditional histochemical staining of tissues, effectively providing label-free Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E)-like visualizations. These findings represent the establishment of an effective all-optical non-contact total-absorption microscope for label-free inspection of biological media.

Method to Quantify the Black Carbon Aerosol Light Absorption Enhancement with Entropy and Diversity Measures

Large uncertainties remain when estimating the warming effects of ambient black carbon (BC) aerosols on climate. One of the key challenges in modeling the radiative effects is predicting the BC light absorption enhancement, which is mainly determined by its mass ratio of non-BC coating thickness to BC (MR). For the same MR, recent researches find that the radiative absorption enhancements by BC are also controlled by its particle-to-particle heterogeneity. In this study, the BC mixing state index (χ) is developed to quantify the dispersion of ambient black carbon aerosol mixing states based on binary systems of BC and other non-black carbon components. We demonstrate that the BC light absorption enhancement increases with χ for the same MR, which indicates that χ can be employed as a factor to constrain the light absorption enhancement of ambient BC. Our framework can be further used in the model to study the black carbon radiative effects on climate change.