Featuring low threshold current, circular beam profile, and scalable fabrication, vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) have made indispensable contributions to the development of modern optoelectronic technologies. Manipulation of electromagnetic fields with emerging flat optical structures, namely metasurfaces, offers new opportunities to minimize complex optical systems into ultra-compact dimensions. Here, we proposed and experimentally demonstrated Vertical Cavity Metasurface-Emitting Lasers (VCMELs) through the monolithic integration of high-index metasurfaces, characterized by their remarkable spatial controllability over the laser beams. Such wafer-level monolithic integration of metasurfaces through VCSELs-compatible technology not only considerably simplifies the assembling process but also preserves the laser characteristics, with 2 great potential to promote various wide-field applications of VCSELs such as optical data communication, ultra-compact light detection and ranging (LiDAR), 3D sensing, and directional displays. Introduction: Vertical-cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) have experienced a soaring development over the last 30 years, particularly after the demonstration of the first continuous-wave (cw) room-temperature device. 1-3 Their unique features such as low-power consumption, circular beam profile, wafer-level testing, large-scale two-dimensional (2D) array have made them the most versatile laser sources for a large number of applications ranging from optical communications, to instrumentation, as well as laser manufacturing and sensing. 4-6 The exploding application demands and the rapidly growing markets pose a longstanding challenge to further improve their performance while realizing precise beam control. In this context, the replacement of the top reflector with resonant structures and the incorporation of photonic crystal have been extensively employed to tune the emission, achieve high brightness,respectively. Meanwhile, considerable attention has been paid to improve the beam quality of the VCSELs, for example, by preventing high-order transverse modes 7-11 .Despite the fact that single-fundamental-mode laser can be realized by limiting the active region with a reduced oxide aperture, strong diffraction effect produces highly
Liquid biopsy enables noninvasive and dynamic analysis of molecular or cellular biomarkers, and therefore holds great potential for the diagnosis, prognosis, monitoring of disease progress and treatment efficacy, understanding of disease mechanisms, and identification of therapeutic targets for drug development. In this review, the recent progress in nanomaterials, nanostructures, nanodevices, and nanosensors for liquid biopsy is summarized, with a focus on the detection and molecular characterization of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and extracellular vesicles (EVs). The developments and advances of nanomaterials and nanostructures in enhancing the sensitivity, specificity, and purity for the detection of CTCs and EVs are discussed. Sensing techniques for signal transduction and amplification as well as visualization strategies are also discussed. New technologies for the reversible release of the isolated CTCs and EVs and for single‐CTC/EV analysis are summarized. Emerging microfluidic platforms for the integral on‐chip isolation, detection, and molecular analysis are also included. The opportunities, challenges, and prospects of these innovative materials and technologies, especially with regard to their feasibility in clinical applications, are discussed. The applications of nanotechnology‐based liquid biopsy will bring new insight into the clinical practice in monitoring and treatment of tumor and other significant diseases.
Glioblastoma is one of the most common primary tumor types of central nervous system (CNS) with high malignance and lethality. Although many treatment options are currently available, the therapy of brain cancers remains challenging because of blood-brain-barrier (BBB) which prevents most of the chemotherapeutics into the CNS. In this work, a poly(amidoamine) dendrimer-based carrier was fabricated and modified with angiopep-2 (Ang2) peptide that has been demonstrated to bind to low density lipoprotein receptor-relative protein-1 (LRP1) on the endothelial cells of BBB and could therefore induce BBB penetration of the carrier. To improve tumor-targeting effect towards the glioma sites, the dendrimer was simultaneously functionalized with an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-targeting peptide (EP-1) which was screened from a "one-bead one-compound" (OBOC) combinatorial library. EP-1 peptide was demonstrated to have high affinity and specificity to EGFR at both the molecular and cellular levels. The dual-targeting dendrimer exhibited outstanding BBB penetrability and glioma targeting efficiency both in vitro and in vivo, which strikingly enhanced the anti-gliomas effect of the drugs and prolonged the survival of gliomas-bearing mice. These results show the potential of the dual-targeting dendrimer-based carrier in the therapy of gliomas through enhancing BBB penetrability and tumor targeting.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia characterized by progressive cognitive decline. Current diagnosis of AD is based on symptoms, neuropsychological tests, and neuroimaging, and is usually evident years after the pathological process. Early assessment at the preclinical or prodromal stage is in a great demand since treatment after the onset can hardly stop or reverse the disease progress. However, early diagnosis of AD is challenging due to the lack of reliable noninvasive approaches. Here, an antibody-mimetic self-assembling peptoid nanosheet containing surface-exposed Aβ42-recognizing loops is constructed, and a label-free sensor for the detection of AD serum is developed. The loop-displaying peptoid nanosheet is demonstrated to have high affinity to serum Aβ42, and to be able to identify AD sera with high sensitivity. The dense distribution of molecular recognition loops on the robust peptoid nanosheet scaffold not only mimics the architecture of antibodies, but also reduces the nonspecific binding in detecting multicomponent samples. This antibody-mimetic 2D material holds great potential toward the blood-based diagnosis of AD, and meanwhile provides novel insights into the antibody alternative engineering and the universal application in biological and chemical sensors.
The 100-m X-ray Test Facility of the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) was initially proposed in 2012 for the test and calibration of the X-ray detectors of the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT) with the capability to support future X-ray missions. The large instrument chamber connected with a long vacuum tube can accommodate the X-ray mirror, focal plane detector and other instruments. The X-ray sources are installed at the other end of the vacuum tube with a distance of 105 m, which can provide an almost parallel X-ray beam covering 0.2∼60 keV energy band. The X-ray mirror modules of the Einstein Probe (EP) and the enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry mission (eXTP) and pay-load of the Gravitational wave high-energy Electromagnetic Counterpart All-sky Monitor (GECAM) have been tested and calibrated with this facility. It has been also used to characterize the focal plane camera and aluminum filter used on the Einstein Probe. In this paper, we will introduce the overall configuration and capability of the facility, and give a brief introduction of some calibration results performed with this facility.
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