A promising approach for quantifying focal stroke modeling and assessing stroke progression:optical resolution photoacoustic microscopy photothrombosis

To investigate the mechanisms underlying the onset and progression of ischemic stroke,some methods have been proposed that can simultaneously monitor and create embolisms in the animal cerebral cortex.However,these methods often require complex systems and the effect of age on cerebral embolism has not been adequately studied,although ischemic stroke is strongly age-related.In this study,we propose an optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy-based visualized photothrombosis methodology to create and monitor ischemic stroke in mice simultaneously using a 532 nm pulsed laser.We observed the molding process in mice of different ages and presented age-dependent vascular embolism differentiation.Moreover,we integrated optical coherence tomography angiography to investigate age-associated trends in cerebrovascular variability following a stroke.Our imaging data and quantitative analyses underscore the differential cerebrovascular responses to stroke in mice of different ages,thereby highlighting the technique's potential for evaluating cerebrovascular health and unraveling age-related mechanisms involved in ischemic strokes.

Macular microvascular and structural changes on optical coherence tomography angiography in atypical optic neuritis

BACKGROUND Atypical optic neuritis,consisting of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders(NMOSD)or myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody disease(MOGAD),has a very similar presentation but different prognostic implications and longterm management strategies.Vascular and metabolic factors are being thought to play a role in such autoimmune neuro-inflammatory disorders,apart from the obvious immune mediated damage.With the advent of optical coherence tomography angiography(OCTA),it is easy to pick up on these subclinical macular microvascular and structural changes.AIM To study the macular microvascular and structural changes on OCTA in atypical optic neuritis.METHODS This observational cross-sectional study involved 8 NMOSD and 17 MOGAD patients,diagnosed serologically,as well as 10 healthy controls.Macular vascular density(MVD)and ganglion cell+inner plexiform layer thickness(GCIPL)were studied using OCTA.RESULTS There was a significant reduction in MVD in NMOSD and MOGAD affected as well as unaffected eyes when compared with healthy controls.NMOSD and MOGAD affected eyes had significant GCIPL thinning compared with healthy controls.NMOSD unaffected eyes did not show significant GCIPL thinning compared to healthy controls in contrast to MOGAD unaffected eyes.On comparing NMOSD with MOGAD,there was no significant difference in terms of MVD or GCIPL in the affected or unaffected eyes.CONCLUSION Although significant microvascular and structural changes are present on OCTA between atypical optic neuritis and normal patients,they could not help in differentiating between NMOSD and MOGAD cases.

Retinal capillary density among healthy Egyptian and South Asian students:an optical coherence tomography angiography study

AIM:To compare the macular and optic nerve perfusion and vascular architecture using optical coherence tomography angiography(OCTA)in normal eyes of Egyptian(Caucasians)and South Asian(Asians)volunteers.METHODS:Cross-sectional analytical OCTA study performed on 90 eyes of South Asian(n=45)and Egyptians(n=45)were analyzed.All participants underwent bestcorrected visual acuity test,slit lamp,and fundus examination.OCTA images;macular 6×6 mm^(2) grid and optic nerve 4.5×4.5 mm^(2) grid were used to examine the parafoveal and peripapillary regions,respectively.RESULTS:The mean capillary vessel density(CVD)in macular sectors among South Asians and Egyptians participants were(50.31%±2.53%,51.2%±5.93%)and(49.71%±3.6%,51.94%±4.79%)in superficial(SCP)and deep capillary plexuses(DCP),respectively(P>0.05).Mean CVD in both groups was higher in DCP compared to SCP in all sectors but was not significant(P>0.05).Mean foveal CVD increases with an increase in central retinal thickness in both SCP and DCP(P<0.001),among both groups.Mean area of the foveal avascular zone(FAZ)was 0.28±0.09 and 0.27±0.08 mm2 in South Asian and Egyptians,respectively.FAZ area decreases with an increase in the thickness and foveal CVD(P<0.001).Mean CVD in the peripapillary area was 48.23%±5.78% in South Asian and 49.52%±2.38% in Egyptian volunteers.The mean retinal nerve fiber layer thickness was found to be higher in the nasal quadrant among South Asian females than the Egyptian females(P<0.05).CONCLUSION:No significant racial disparity is found in this study.The findings are helpful for assessing and improving the normative data on the differences in South Asian and Egyptian populations.

Comparison of the effect of ranibizumab in retinal vein occlusion and macular edema with different optical coherence tomographic patterns

AIM:To explore the morphological and functional parameters to evaluate the effectiveness of intravitreal injections of ranibizumab(IVR)in treating macular edema(ME)secondary to retinal vein occlusion(RVO).METHODS:This retrospective study involved 65 RVO patients(65 eyes)who received IVR and were followedup for more than 3mo.ME was categorized into cystoid macular edema(CME),diffuse retinal thickening(DRT),and serous retinal detachment(SRD)according to optical coherence tomography(OCT)images.The comparison of best corrected visual acuity(BCVA;logMAR)and central macular thickness(CMT)among different follow-up points and those among 3 groups were performed by Kruskal-Wallis test.The correlation between BCVA and baseline parameters during treatment was analyzed using Spearman correlation analysis.RESULTS:BCVA tended to improve in all groups,with marked improvement in CME and DRT groups.CMT showed the greatest reduction after 1wk,and remained stable over the following 3mo.DRT patients had the worst BCVA and the highest CMT at baseline,but the differences became smaller after IVR treatment.CMT in SRD group was significantly better than in CME and DRT groups 3mo after IVR.Most patients of CME and SRD groups transitioned to a normal pattern at 3mo follow-up.DRT patients were most likely to transform into the other morphological groups,while SRD patients showed minimal transitions.BCVA at baseline was identified as the most important prognostic indicator in all 3 groups.Additionally,DRT patients with a longer clinical course,higher CMT and central retinal vein occlusion(CRVO)tend to exhibit worse BCVA after treatment.In addition,CRVO patients are more likely to have worse BCVA at 2 and 3mo follow-up compared with branch retinal vein occlusion(BRVO)patients in CME group.SRD patients with higher baseline CMT were prone to experiencing worse BCVA after treatment.CONCLUSION:The effectiveness of IVR is strongly correlated with baseline BCVA in all 3 groups.Baseline parameters including clinical course,CMT,and RVO position are also useful in predicting the BCVA at different time points after treatment.

Valley-selective manipulation of moiréexcitons through optical Stark effect

Semiconductor moirésuperlattices provide great platforms for exploring exotic collective excitations.Optical Stark effect,a shift of the electronic transition in the presence of a light field,provides an ultrafast and coherent method of manipulating matter states,which,however,has not been demonstrated in moirématerials.Here,we report the valleyselective optical Stark effect of moiréexcitons in the WSe_(2)/WS_(2)superlattice by using transient reflection spectroscopy.Prominent valley-selective energy shifts up to 7.8 meV have been observed for moiréexcitons,corresponding to pseudomagnetic fields as large as 34 T.Our results provide a route to coherently manipulate exotic states in moirésuperlattices.

Efficient stochastic parallel gradient descent training for on-chip optical processor

In recent years,space-division multiplexing(SDM)technology,which involves transmitting data information on multiple parallel channels for efficient capacity scaling,has been widely used in fiber and free-space optical communication sys-tems.To enable flexible data management and cope with the mixing between different channels,the integrated reconfig-urable optical processor is used for optical switching and mitigating the channel crosstalk.However,efficient online train-ing becomes intricate and challenging,particularly when dealing with a significant number of channels.Here we use the stochastic parallel gradient descent(SPGD)algorithm to configure the integrated optical processor,which has less com-putation than the traditional gradient descent(GD)algorithm.We design and fabricate a 6×6 on-chip optical processor on silicon platform to implement optical switching and descrambling assisted by the online training with the SPDG algorithm.Moreover,we apply the on-chip processor configured by the SPGD algorithm to optical communications for optical switching and efficiently mitigating the channel crosstalk in SDM systems.In comparison with the traditional GD al-gorithm,it is found that the SPGD algorithm features better performance especially when the scale of matrix is large,which means it has the potential to optimize large-scale optical matrix computation acceleration chips.

A Yb optical clock with a lattice power enhancement cavity

We construct a power enhancement cavity to form an optical lattice in an ytterbium optical clock.It is demonstrated that the intra-cavity lattice power can be increased by about 45 times,and the trap depth can be as large as 1400Er when laser light with a power of only 0.6 W incident to the lattice cavity.Such high trap depths are the key to accurate evaluation of the lattice-induced light shift with an uncertainty down to~1×10-18.By probing the ytterbium atoms trapped in the power-enhanced optical lattice,we obtain a 4.3 Hz-linewidth Rabi spectrum,which is then used to feedback to the clock laser for the close loop operation of the optical lattice clock.We evaluate the density shift of the Yb optical lattice clock based on interleaving measurements,which is-0.46(62)mHz.This result is smaller compared to the density shift of our first Yb optical clock without lattice power enhancement cavity mainly due to a larger lattice diameter of 344μm.

Multimode diffractive optical neural network

On-chip diffractive optical neural networks(DONNs)bring the advantages of parallel processing and low energy consumption.However,an accurate representation of the optical field’s evolution in the structure cannot be provided using the previous diffraction-based analysis method.Moreover,the loss caused by the open boundaries poses challenges to applications.A multimode DONN architecture based on a more precise eigenmode analysis method is proposed.We have constructed a universal library of input,output,and metaline structures utilizing this method,and realized a multimode DONN composed of the structures from the library.On the designed multimode DONNs with only one layer of the metaline,the classification task of an Iris plants dataset is verified with an accuracy of 90%on the blind test dataset,and the performance of the one-bit binary adder task is also validated.Compared to the previous architectures,the multimode DONN exhibits a more compact design and higher energy efficiency.

Aflibercept combined with triamcinolone acetonide in the treatment of diabetic macular edema:optical coherence tomography and optical coherence tomography angiography

AIM:To analyze the relationship between optical coherence tomography(OCT)and OCT angiography(OCTA)imaging in patients with diabetic macular edema(DME)who are treated with a combination of aflibercept and triamcinolone acetonide(TA).METHODS:A total of 76 eyes newly diagnosed DME were included in this study.They were randomly assigned to receive either aflibercept or a combination of aflibercept and TA.Injections once a month for a total of three injections.Central macular thickness(CMT),number of hyperreflective foci(HRF),height of subretinal fluid(SRF),and area of foveal avascular zone(FAZ)were evaluated using OCT and OCTA at baseline and after each monthly treatment.RESULTS:Both groups showed improvement in best corrected visual acuity(BCVA)and reduction in macular edema after treatment,and the difference in BCVA between the two groups was statistically significant after each treatment(P<0.05).The difference in CMT between the two groups was statistically significant after the first two injections(P<0.01),but not after the third injection(P=0.875).The number of HRF(1mo:7.41±8.25 vs 10.86±7.22,P=0.027;2mo:5.33±6.13 vs 9.12±8.61,P=0.034;3mo:3.58±3.00 vs 6.37±5.97,P=0.007)and height of SRF(1mo:82.39±39.12 vs 105.77±42.26μm,P=0.011;2mo:36.84±10.02 vs 83.59±37.78μm,P<0.01;3mo:11.57±3.29 vs 45.43±12.60μm,P<0.01)in combined group were statistically significant less than aflibercept group after each injection,while the area of FAZ showed no significant change before and after treatment in both groups.CONCLUSION:The combination therapy of aflibercept and TA shows more significant effects on DME eyes with decreased HRF and SRF.However,both aflibercept and combination therapy show no significant change in the area of FAZ.

Optical facet coatings for high-performance LWIR quantum cascade lasers atλ∼8.5μm

We report on the performance improvement of long-wave infrared quantum cascade lasers(LWIR QCLs)by studying and optimizing the anti-reflection(AR)optical facet coating.Compared to the Al2O3 AR coat⁃ing,the Y_(2)O_(3)AR coating exhibits higher catastrophic optical mirror damage(COMD)level,and the optical facet coatings of both material systems have no beam steering effect.A 3-mm-long,9.5-μm-wide buried-heterostruc⁃ture(BH)LWIR QCL ofλ~8.5μm with Y_(2)O_(3)metallic high-reflection(HR)and AR of~0.2%reflectivity coating demonstrates a maximum pulsed peak power of 2.19 W at 298 K,which is 149%higher than that of the uncoated device.For continuous-wave(CW)operation,by optimizing the reflectivity of the Y_(2)O_(3)AR coating,the maximum output power reaches 0.73 W,which is 91%higher than that of the uncoated device.

Optical frequency comb technology: from ground to space

Optical frequency combs,as powerful tools for precision spectroscopy and research into optical frequency standards,have driven continuous progress and significant breakthroughs in applications such as time-frequency transfer,measurement of fundamental physical constants,and high-precision ranging,achieving a series of milestone results in ground-based environments.With the continuous maturation and evolution of femtosecond lasers and related technologies,optical frequency combs are moving from ground-based applications to astronomical and space-based applications,playing an increasingly important role in atomic clocks,exoplanet observations,gravitational wave measurements,and other areas.This paper,focusing on astronomical and space-based applications,reviews research progress on astronomical frequency combs,optical clock time-frequency networks,gravitational waves,dark matter measurement,dual-comb large-scale absolute ranging,and high-resolution atmospheric spectroscopy.With enhanced performance and their gradual application in the field of space-based research,optical frequency combs will undoubtedly provide more powerful support for astronomical science and cosmic exploration in the future.

Edge computing oriented virtual optical network mapping scheme based on fragmentation prediction

As edge computing services soar,the problem of resource fragmentation situation is greatly worsened in elastic optical networks(EON).Aimed to solve this problem,this article proposes the fragmentation prediction model that makes full use of the gate recurrent unit(GRU)algorithm.Based on the fragmentation prediction model,one virtual optical network mapping scheme is presented for edge computing driven EON.With the minimum of fragmentation degree all over the whole EON,the virtual network mapping can be successively conducted.Test results show that the proposed approach can reduce blocking rate,and the supporting ability for virtual optical network services is greatly improved.

Electrical and nonlinear optical properties of TGZO transparent conducting films deposited by magnetron sputtering

Thin transparent oxide conducting films(TCOFs)of titanium and gallium substituted zinc oxide(TGZO)were fabricated via radio frequency(RF)magnetron sputtering technique.The effects of RF power on electrical,linear and nonlinear optical characteristics were investigated by Hall tester,Ultraviolet(UV)-visible spectrophotometer and optical characterization method.The results indicate that RF power significantly influences the electrical and optical properties of the deposited films.As RF power raises,the resistivity and Urbach energy fall initially and then rise,while the figure of merit,mean visible transmittance and optical bandgap show the reverse variation trend.At RF power of 190 W,the TGZO sample exhibits the highest electro-optical properties,with the maximum figure of merit(1.14×10^(4)Ω^(-1)∙cm^(-1)),mean visible transmittance(86.9%)and optical bandgap(3.50 eV),the minimum resistivity(6.26×10^(-4)Ω∙cm)and Urbach energy(174.23 meV).In addition,the optical constants of the deposited films were determined by the optical spectrum fitting method,and the RF power dependence of nonlinear optical properties was studied.It is observed that all the thin films exhibit normal dispersion characteristics in the visible region,and the nonlinear optical parameters are greatly affected by the RF power in the ultraviolet region.

Generation of tunable high-order Laguerre– Gaussian petal-like modes from a mid-infrared optical vortex parametric oscillator

High-order Laguerre–Gaussian(LG)petal-like beams have become a topic of significant interest due to their potential application in next-generation optical trapping,quantum optics,and materials processing technologies.In this work,we demonstrate the generation of high-order LG beams with petal-like spatial profiles and tunable orbital angular momentum(OAM)in the mid-infrared wavelength region.These beams are generated using idler-resonant optical parametric oscillation(OPO)in a KTiOAsO_(4)(KTA)crystal.By adjusting the length of the resonant cavity,the OAM of the mid-infrared idler field can be tuned and we demonstrate tuning in the range of 0 to10.When using a maximum pump energy of 20.2 mJ,the maximum output energy of high-order modes LG_(0.45),LG_(0.48),and LG_(0.410) were 0.8,0.53,and 0.46 mJ,respectively.The means by which high-order LG modes with petal-like spatial profiles and tunable OAM were generated from the OPO is theoretically modeled by examining the spatial overlap efficiency of the beam waists of the pump and resonant idler fields within the center of the KTA crystal.The methodology presented in this work offers a simple and flexible method to wavelength-convert laser emission and generate high-order LG modes.

Decision-making and control with diffractive optical networks

The ultimate goal of artificial intelligence(AI)is to mimic the human brain to perform decision-making and control directly from high-dimensional sensory input.Diffractive optical networks(DONs)provide a promising solution for implementing AI with high speed and low power-consumption.Most reported DONs focus on tasks that do not involve environmental interaction,such as object recognition and image classification.By contrast,the networks capable of decision-making and control have not been developed.Here,we propose using deep reinforcement learning to implement DONs that imitate human-level decisionmaking and control capability.Such networks,which take advantage of a residual architecture,allow finding optimal control policies through interaction with the environment and can be readily implemented with existing optical devices.The superior performance is verified using three types of classic games:tic-tac-toe,Super Mario Bros.,and Car Racing.Finally,we present an experimental demonstration of playing tic-tac-toe using the network based on a spatial light modulator.Our work represents a solid step forward in advancing DONs,which promises a fundamental shift from simple recognition or classification tasks to the high-level sensory capability of AI.It may find exciting applications in autonomous driving,intelligent robots,and intelligent manufacturing.

All-Optical Sampling Using Nonlinear Polarization Rotation in a Single Semiconductor Optical Amplifier

We propose a novel all-optical sampling method using nonlinear polarization rotation in a semiconductor optical amplifier. A rate-equation model capable of describing the all-optical sampling mechanism is presented in this paper. Based on this model, we investigate the optimized operating parameters of the proposed system by simulating the output intensity of the probe light as functions of the input polarization angle, the phase induced by the polarization controller, and the ori- entation of the polarization beam splitter. The simulated results show that we can obtain a good linear slope and a large linear dynamic range,which is suitable for all-optical sampling. The operating power of the pump light can be less than lmW. The presented all-optical sampling method can potentially operate at a sampling rate up to hundreds GS/s and needs low optical power.

A passive optical network based on optical code division multiplexing and time division multiple access technology

A passive optical network （PON） scheme based on optical code division multiplexing （OCDM） for the downstream traffics is proposed and analyzed in detail. In the PON, the downstream traffics are broadcasted by OCDM technology to guarantee the security, while the upstream traffics pass through the same optical fiber by the common time division multiple access （TDMA） technology to decrease the cost. This schemes are denoted as OCDM/TDMA-PON, which can be applied to an optical access network （OAN） with full services on demand, such as Internet protocol, video on demand, tele-presence and high quality audio. The proposed OCDM/TDMA-PON scheme combines advantages of PON, TDMA, and OCDM technology. Simulation results indicate that the designed scheme improves the OAN performance, and enhances flexibility and scalability of the system.

Multi-dimensional multiplexing optical secret sharing framework with cascaded liquid crystal holograms

Secret sharing is a promising technology for information encryption by splitting the secret information into different shares.However,the traditional scheme suffers from information leakage in decryption process since the amount of available information channels is limited.Herein,we propose and demonstrate an optical secret sharing framework based on the multi-dimensional multiplexing liquid crystal(LC)holograms.The LC holograms are used as spatially separated shares to carry secret images.The polarization of the incident light and the distance between different shares are served as secret keys,which can significantly improve the information security and capacity.Besides,the decryption condition is also restricted by the applied external voltage due to the variant diffraction efficiency,which further increases the information security.In implementation,an artificial neural network(ANN)model is developed to carefully design the phase distribution of each LC hologram.With the advantage of high security,high capacity and simple configuration,our optical secret sharing framework has great potentials in optical encryption and dynamic holographic display.

Deep learning-based inpainting of saturation artifacts in optical coherence tomography images

Limited by the dynamic range of the detector,saturation artifacts usually occur in optical coherence tomography(OCT)imaging for high scattering media.The available methods are difficult to remove saturation artifacts and restore texture completely in OCT images.We proposed a deep learning-based inpainting method of saturation artifacts in this paper.The generation mechanism of saturation artifacts was analyzed,and experimental and simulated datasets were built based on the mechanism.Enhanced super-resolution generative adversarial networks were trained by the clear–saturated phantom image pairs.The perfect reconstructed results of experimental zebrafish and thyroid OCT images proved its feasibility,strong generalization,and robustness.

Glaucoma surgery experiments using digital microscope-integrated optical coherence tomography and OCT-compatible instruments

There is a certain failure rate in traditional glaucoma surgery because of the lack of depth information in microscope images.In this work,we present a digital microscope-integrated optical coherence tomography(MIOCT)system and several custom-made OCT-compatible instruments for glaucoma surgery.Sixteen ophthalmologists were asked to perform trabeculectomy and canaloplasty on live porcine eyes using the system and instruments.After surgery,a subjective feedback survey about the user experience was taken.The experiment results showed that our system can help surgeons easily locate important tissue structures during surgery.The custom-made instruments also solved the shadowing problem in OCT imaging.Surgeons preferred to use the system in their future practice.