The pattern coarsening dynamics in symmetric polystyrene-b-polymethylmethacrylate (PS-b-PMMA) block copolymer thin films under conventional thermal treatments is extremely slow, resulting in limited correlation length values even after prolonged annealing at relatively high temperatures. This study describes the kinetics of symmetric block copolymer microphase separation when subjected to a thermal treatment based on the use of a Rapid Thermal Processing (RTP) system. The proposed methodology allows self-organization of symmetric PS-b-PMMA thin films in few seconds, taking advantage of the amount of solvent naturally trapped within the film during the spinning process. Distinct and self-registered morphologies, coexisting along the sample thickness, are obtained in symmetric PS-b-PMMA samples, with periodic lamellae laying over a hexagonal pattern of PMMA cylinders embedded in the PS matrix and perpendicularly oriented with respect to the substrate. The ordering dynamics and morphological evolution of the coexisting dual structures are delineated and the intimate mechanism of the self-assembly and coarsening processes is discussed and elucidated

The most frequent drawback of doxorubicin is the onset of drug resistance, due to the active efflux through P-glycoprotein (Pgp). Recently formulations of liposome-encapsulated doxorubicin have been approved for the treatment of tumors resistant to conventional anticancer drugs, but the molecular basis of their efficacy is not known. To clarify by which mechanisms the liposome-encapsulated doxorubicin is effective in drug-resistant cancer cells, we analyzed the effects of doxorubicin and doxorubicin-containing anionic liposomal nanoparticles ("Lipodox") on the drug-sensitive human colon cancer HT29 cells and on the drug-resistant HT29-dx cells. Interestingly, we did not detect any difference in drug accumulation and toxicity between free doxorubicin and Lipodox in HT29 cells, but Lipodox was significantly more effective than doxorubicin in HT29-dx cells, which are rich in Pgp. This effect was lost in HT29-dx cells silenced for Pgp and acquired by HT29 cells overexpressing Pgp. Lipodox was less extruded by Pgp than doxorubicin and inhibited the pump activity. This inhibition was due to a double effect: the liposome shell per se altered the composition of rafts in resistant cells and decreased the lipid raft-associated amount of Pgp, and the doxorubicin-loaded liposomes directly impaired transport and ATPase activity of Pgp. The efficacy of Lipodox was not increased by verapamil and cyclosporin A and was underwent interference by colchicine. Binding assays revealed that Lipodox competed with verapamil for binding Pgp and hampered the interaction of colchicine with this transporter. Site-directed mutagenesis experiments demonstrated that glycine 185 is a critical residue for the direct inhibitory effect of Lipodox on Pgp. Our work describes novel properties of liposomal doxorubicin, investigating the molecular bases that make this formulation an inhibitor of Pgp activity and a vehicle particularly indicated against drug-resistant tumors.

The control of emission from localized light sources is an objective of outstanding relevance in nanophotonics. In a recent past, a large number of metallic nanostructures has been proposed to this end, wherein plasmonic modes are exploited as energy carriers on a subwavelength scale. As an interesting alternative, we present here the use of surface modes on patterned dielectric multilayers to deliver electromagnetic power from free-space to localized volumes and vice versa. Thanks to this low-loss energy transfer, proper periodic ring structures are shown to provide a subwavelength focusing of an external radiation onto the multilayer surface. By reciprocity, the radiated power from emitters within the ring center is shown to be efficiently beamed in the free-space, with a well-controlled angular divergence. This mechanism overcomes some important limitations involved in the all-plasmonic approach, while opening new opportunities for hybrid devices in photon management applications such as optical sensing and lighting.

The lateral confinement of Bloch surface waves on a patterned multilayer is investigated by means of leakage radiation microscopy (LRM). Arrays of nanometric polymeric waveguides are fabricated on a proper silicon-nitride/silicon-oxide multilayer grown on a standard glass coverslip. By exploiting the functional properties of the polymer, fluorescent proteins are grafted onto the waveguides. A fluorescence LRM analysis of both the direct and the Fourier image plane reveals that a substantial amount of emitted radiation couples into a guided mode and then propagates into the nanometric waveguide. The observations of the mode are supported by numerical simulations. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3684272

Focused MeV ion beams with micrometric resolution are suitable tools for the direct writing of conductive graphitic channels buried in an insulating diamond bulk, as already demonstrated for different device applications. In this work we apply this fabrication method to the electrical excitation of color centers in diamond, demonstrating the potential of electrical stimulation in diamond-based single-photon sources. Differently from optically-stimulated light emission from color centers in diamond, electroluminescence (EL) requires a high current flowing in the diamond subgap states between the electrodes. With this purpose, buried graphitic electrode pairs, 10 μm spaced, were fabricated in the bulk of a single-crystal diamond sample using a 6 MeV C microbeam. The electrical characterization of the structure showed a significant current injection above an effective voltage threshold of 150 V, which enabled the stimulation of a stable EL emission. The EL imaging allowed to identify the electroluminescent regions and the residual vacancy distribution associated with the fabrication technique. Measurements evidenced isolated electroluminescent spots where non-classical light emission in the 560–700 nm spectral range was observed. The spectral and auto-correlation features of the EL emission were investigated to qualify the non-classical properties of the color centers.