Electrical correlates of the physiological state of a cell, such as membrane conductance and capacitance, as well as cytoplasm conductivity, contain vital information about cellular function, ion transport across the membrane, and propagation of electrical signals. They are, however, difficult to measure; gold-standard techniques are typically unable to measure more than a few cells per day, making widespread adoption difficult and limiting statistical reproducibility. We have developed a dielectrophoretic platform using a disposable 3D electrode geometry that accurately (r2 > 0.99) measures mean electrical properties of populations of ~20,000 cells, by taking parallel ensemble measurements of cells at 20 frequencies up to 45 MHz, in (typically) ten seconds. This allows acquisition of ultra-high-resolution (100-point) DEP spectra in under two minutes. Data acquired from a wide range of cells – from platelets to large cardiac cells - benchmark well with patch-clamp-data. These advantages are collectively demonstrated in a longitudinal (same-animal) study of rapidly-changing phenomena such as ultradian (2–3 hour) rhythmicity in whole blood samples of the common vole (Microtus arvalis), taken from 10 µl tail-nick blood samples and avoiding sacrifice of the animal that is typically required in these studies.

In a low energy (2.3 kJ) Mather-type deuterium plasma focus, neutron and charged particle emission is investigated by using time-resolved neutron detectors and time-integrated charged particle pinhole imaging camera. The time-integrated charged particle pinhole images demonstrate the varying influence of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instabilities vis-a-vis filling pressure. The neutron production mechanism at play strongly depends upon the pressure. At lower pressure, the plasma column is highly unstable due to MHD instabilities and the neutron emission is found to be low with fluence anisotropy exceeding 3.5. At optimum pressure (2.5 mbar for this system), an almost stable dense plasma of about 17 mm3 volume is formed about 5 mm away from the anode, with neutron emission at its highest and the fluence anisotropy lowest. At higher pressure, the plasma column is stable, although it moves away from the anode like a jet and may then be called a moving boiler. In this case, the neutron emission is lowered compared to its optimum value and fluence anisotropy is increased. The data suggest beam-target mechanism at low pressure, trapped gyrating particles at optimum pressure and a jetlike moving boiler at higher pressure.

Optical emission spectroscopy of the active species in N 2 plasma is carried out to investigate their concentration as a function of discharge parameters such as filling pressure (2.0-7.0 mbar), source power (100-200 W) and gas flow rate (50-300 mg/min). The primary motivation of this work is to obtain reliable information about the concentration of the active species of N 2 plasma, which play an important role in plasma surface nitriding processes. Emission intensity from the selected electronic excited states of molecular and atomic species is evaluated as a function of discharge parameters to investigate their concentration. The emission intensity ratio I (N + 2 )/I (N 2 ) and I (N + )/I (N ) of the electronic transitions is also evaluated as a function of discharge parameters to investigate the relative dependence of their concentrations. It is observed that the concentration of the active species of N 2 plasma is strongly affected by the filling pressure and source power whereas flow rate has no significant effect. An increased occurrence of N + 2 molecular ions in comparison with N 2 molecules, and N + ions in comparison with N atoms is observed with source power whereas decreased occurrence of N + 2 molecular ions in comparison with N 2 molecules, and N + ions in comparison with N atoms is observed with the rise in filling pressure.

In a low energy (2.3 kJ) Mather-type deuterium plasma focus, neutron and x-ray emission is investigated by time integrated and time resolved detectors. CR-39 nuclear track ion detectors are employed for measuring charged particle angular distribution. Correlation of charged particles with neutron and x-ray emission is also investigated. The neutron emission profile is found to be composed of two pulses, the intensity and anisotropy of which vary with the filling pressure. The charged particle flux is maximum with high fluence anisotropy for the pressure range 2.5-3.0 mbar which is also the optimum pressure for high neutron emission with low fluence anisotropy (∼1.5). The high neutron emission with low fluence anisotropy is attributed to the presence of trapped deuterons in an anomalous magnetic field. The relevant pressure range generates favourable conditions for plasma density and pinch filament diameter. X-ray emission is generally high at low pressure. For the pressure range of 2.5-4.0 mbar, the axial neutron detector registers a hard x-ray pulse, which may escape through a half inch thick Cu flange. These results suggest that at low pressures, the collapsing current sheath interacts with the anode end and causes intense low energy (≤10 keV) x-ray emission, but the neutron emission remains low. X-rays are dominantly Cu Kα. In the narrow pressure regime 2.5-3.0 mbar, the current sheath forms a pinch filament leading to high neutron yield with low fluence anisotropy.

Trace rare-gas–optical emission spectroscopy is carried out to characterize the nitrogen plasma as a function of discharge parameters. The functional dependence of N2(CΠu3) and N2+(BΣu+2) excited states is monitored by measuring the emission intensities of the bandheads of second positive and first negative systems. The excited-state population density of N atoms and N2 molecules, extracted from their optical emission, is related to the ground-state population density after normalizing the changes for excitation cross section and electron energy distribution function by optical actinometry. The electron temperature is determined from the plasma-induced optical emission of trace rare gas by the line-to-line method. The obtained data may help us to adjust the optimum discharge conditions for the production of active species, which are considered to be important for the desired treatment of the samples.