A method is proposed for determining the surface tensions of a solid in contact with either a liquid or a vapor. Only an equilibrium adsorption isotherm at the solid-vapor interface needs to be added to Gibbsian thermodynamics to obtain the expressions for the solid-vapor and the solid-liquid surface tensions, gamma[1](SV) and gamma[1](SL), respectively. An equilibrium adsorption isotherm relation is formulated that has the essential property of not predicting an infinite amount adsorbed when the pressure is equal to the saturation-vapor pressure. Five different solid-vapor systems from the literature are examined, and found to be well described by the new isotherm relation. The surface-tension expressions obtained from the isotherm relation are examined by determining the surface tension of the solid in the absence of adsorption, gamma[1](S0), a material property of a solid surface. The value of gamma[1](S0) can be determined by adsorbing different vapors on the same solid, determining the isotherm parameters in each case, and then from the expression for gamma[1](SV) taking the limit of the pressure vanishing to determine gamma[1](S0). From previously reported measurements of benzene and of n-hexane adsorbing on graphitized carbon, the same value of gamma[1](S0) is obtained.

Understanding information processing in the brain requires us to monitor neural activity at high spatiotemporal resolution. Using an ultrafast two-photon fluorescence microscope (2PFM) empowered by all-optical laser scanning, we imaged neural activity in vivo at up to 3,000 frames per second and submicron spatial resolution. This ultrafast imaging method enabled monitoring of both supra- and sub-threshold electrical activity down to 345 μm below the brain surface in head-fixed awake mice.

Optical time-stretch imaging enables the continuous capture of non-repetitive events in real time at a line-scan rate of tens of MHz—a distinct advantage for the ultrafast dynamics monitoring and high-throughput screening that are widely needed in biological microscopy. However, its potential is limited by the technical challenge of achieving significant pulse stretching (that is, high temporal dispersion) and low optical loss, which are the critical factors influencing imaging quality, in the visible spectrum demanded in many of these applications. We present a new pulse-stretching technique, termed free-space angular-chirp-enhanced delay (FACED), with three distinguishing features absent in the prevailing dispersive-fiber-based implementations: (1) it generates substantial, reconfigurable temporal dispersion in free space (>1 ns nm−1) with low intrinsic loss (<6 dB) at visible wavelengths; (2) its wavelength-invariant pulse-stretching operation introduces a new paradigm in time-stretch imaging, which can now be implemented both with and without spectral encoding; and (3) pulse stretching in FACED inherently provides an ultrafast all-optical laser-beam scanning mechanism at a line-scan rate of tens of MHz. Using FACED, we demonstrate not only ultrafast laser-scanning time-stretch imaging with superior bright-field image quality compared with previous work but also, for the first time, MHz fluorescence and colorized time-stretch microscopy. Our results show that this technique could enable a wider scope of applications in high-speed and high-throughput biological microscopy that were once out of reach.

When a liquid and its vapor contact a smooth, homogeneous surface, Gibbsian thermodynamics indicates that the contact angle depends on the pressure at the three-phase line of an isothermal system. When a recently proposed adsorption isotherm for a solid-vapor interface is combined with the equilibrium conditions and the system is assumed to be in a cylinder where the liquid-vapor interface can be approximated as spherical, the contact-angle-pressure relation can be made explicit. It indicates that a range of contact angles can be observed on a smooth homogeneous surface by changing the pressure at the three-phase line, but it also indicates that the adsorption at the solid-liquid interface is negative, and leads to the prediction that the contact angle increases with pressure. The predicted dependence of the contact angle on pressure is investigated experimentally in a system that has an independent mechanism for determining when thermodynamic equilibrium is reached. The predictions are in agreement with the measurements. The results provide a possible explanation for contact angle hysteresis.

This paper reports a light sheet fluorescence imaging flow cytometer for 3D sectioning of phytoplankton. The instrument developed has the inherent advantages of high cell counting throughput and high spatial resolution information derived from flow cytometry and light sheet microscopy. The throughput of the instrument is quantified by the sample volume flow rate of 0.5 μl/min with a spatial resolution as achieved by light sheet microscopy. Preliminary results from 3D morphology of the internal chlorophyll-a structure of two dinoflagellates species show promising application potentials of the method for phytoplankton taxonomy of selected species and species groups.

Earlier studies have indicated that in an isothermal three-phase system, the liquid-phase pressure at the three-phase line, xL3, may be viewed as the independent variable of the contact angle, theta, and that adsorption at the solid-liquid interface is the mechanism relating them. When the liquid-vapor interface is axi-symmetric, we show that theta can be predicted as a function of xL3 and that by measuring theta(xL3), the amount adsorbed at the solid-liquid interface can be determined. We consider water in differently sized borosilicate glass cylinders. For progressively larger cylinders, xL3 increases with cylinder radius, but when a particularly sized cylinder is rotated about it longitudinal axis, xL3 is decreased. The observed value of theta in each case is found to be in close agreement with that predicted. A Gibbs model of the interphase is used, and the Gibbs adsorption at the solid-liquid interface is found to be negative. As xL3 increases above its value at wetting, the amount adsorbed at the solid-liquid interface becomes progressively more negative. Negative adsorption is shown to mean that the concentration of the fluid component is greater in the bulk liquid than in the interphase and that the difference in concentration increases as xL3 is increased. The data is used to investigate the hypothesis that the curvature of the three-phase line affects theta through line tension, but we find no relation between line tension and theta. There is an apparent relation between the curvature of the liquid-vapor interface, CLV and theta, but this is shown to be because CLV affects xL3.

For sessile droplets partially wetting a solid surface, it has been observed experimentally that the value of the contact angle depends on the contact line curvature and this dependence has been attributed to tension in the contact line. But previous analyses of these observations have neglected adsorption at the solid-liquid interface and its effect on the surface tension of this interface. We show that if this adsorption is taken into account the relation between the contact angle and contact line curvature is completely accounted for without introducing line tension. Further, from the observed relation between the contact angle and contact line curvature, the adsorption at the solid-liquid interface can be determined, as can the surface tensions of the solid-liquid and solid-vapor interfaces.

Significance Characterizing blood flow by tracking individual red blood cells as they move through vessels is essential for understanding vascular function. With high spatial resolution, two-photon fluorescence microscopy is the method of choice for imaging blood flow at the cellular level. However, its application is limited to a low flow speed regimen in anesthetized animals by its slow focus scanning mechanism. Using an ultrafast scanning module, we demonstrated two-photon fluorescence imaging of blood flow at 1,000 two-dimensional frames and 1,000,000 one-dimensional line scans per second in the brains of awake mice. These ultrafast measurements enabled us to study hemodynamic and fluid mechanical regimens beyond the reach of conventional methods.