Low-power laser irradiation promotes the proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of human periodontal ligament cells via cyclic adenosine monophosphate

Retaining or improving periodontal ligament （PDL） function is crucial for restoring periodontal defects. The aim of this study was to evaluate the physiological effects of low-power laser irradiation （LPLI） on the proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of human PDL （hPDL） cells. Cultured hPDL cel Is were irradiated （660 nm） daily with doses of O, 1, 2 or 4 J .cm-2. Cell proliferation was evaluated by the 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide （MTT） assay, and the effect of LPLI on osteogenic differentiation was assessed by Alizarin Red S staining and alkaline phosphatase （ALP） activity. Additionally, osteogenic marker gene expression was confirmed by real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction （RT-PCR）. Our data showed that LPLI at a dose of 2 J.cm-2 significantly promoted hPDL cell proliferation at days 3 and 5. In addition, LPLI at energy doses of 2 and 4 J.cm-2 showed potential osteogenic capacity, as it stimulated ALP activity, calcium deposition, and osteogenic gene expression. We also showed that cyclic adenosine monophosphate （cAMP） is a critical regulator of the LPLI-mediated effects on hPDL cells. This study shows that LPLI can promote the proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of hPDL cells. These results suggest the potential use of LPLI in clinical applications for periodontal tissue regeneration.

Transplantation of low-power laser-irradiated olfactory ensheathing cells to promote repair of spinal cord injury in rats

BACKGROUND： Previous studies have demonstrated that low-power laser （LPL） irradiation can promote the regeneration of peripheral nerves and central nerves, as well as influence cellular proliferation. Therefore, it is thought to be a potential treatment for spinal cord injury. OBJECTIVE： Utilizing histological observations and behavioral evaluations, the aim of this study was to investigate the influence of transplanted olfactory ensheathing cells （OECs）, irradiated by LPL, on functional repair of rats following transversal spinal cord injury. DESIGN, TIME AND SETTING： A randomized, controlled, animal experiment was performed at the animal experimental center in the First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University between January 2007 and February 2008. MATERIALS： A total of 52 Sprague Dawley rats were included in this experiment. Twelve rats were used to harvest OECs, some of which were irradiated by LPL on days 3, 5, and 7 in culture. The remaining 40 rats were used to establish T12 complete spinal cord transection injury. DMEM/F12 medium was purchased from Sigma, USA, Fluorogold was provided by Chemicon, USA, and the LY/JG650-D500-16 low-power laser was produced by Xi＇an Lingyue Electromechanical Science And Technology Co., Ltd., China. METHODS： The successful rat models were randomly divided into three groups： OEC transplantation, LPL-irradiated OEC transplantation, and control. These animals were microinjected with OEC suspension, LPL-irradiated OEC suspension, and DMEM/F12 medium （10μL） respectively 4 weeks after spinal cord was completely transected at the T12 level. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES： Spinal cord injury was observed using hematoxylin-eosin staining Expression of nerve growth factor receptor p75 and glial fibrillary acidic protein were determined using immunohistochemical staining. Regeneration of spinal nerve fibers in rats was assayed by Fluorogold retrograde labeling method. Basso, Beattie and Bresnahan （BBB） scores were used to evaluate motor functions of rat lower limbs. RESULTS： Structural disturbances were observed following spinal cord injury in each group, and a large amount of scar tissue covered the broken ends, accompanied by porosis and inflammatory cell infiltration. Following OEC transplantation, the distal end connected to the proximal end. nerve growth factor receptor p75 and glial fibrillary acidic protein immunohistochemistry revealed positive OECs in the cephalad and caudal area of rats that received LPL-irradiated OEC transplantation. In the OECs group, only glial fibrillary acidic protein staining was observed. No staining was found in the control group. Neural fibers labeled with Fluorogold extended across the lesion area and into the cephalad and caudal area in the OECs and LPL-irradiated OECs groups, but were not present in the control group. BBB scores revealed statistically significant differences among the three groups （P 〈 0.05）： OECs irradiated by LPL group 〉 OECs group 〉 control group. CONCLUSION： Transplantation of OECs and LPL-irradiated OECs promoted functional repair in the injured spinal cord of rats, although LPL-irradiated OECs resulted in greater beneficial effects.

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON MACRO AND MICRO-STRUCTURE OF METALLIC PARTS BUILT BY LOW-POWER LASER CLADDING

A low-power CO_2 laser is used to deposit Fe powder and mixture of Fe andcarbon powder on substrates respectively, and the macro and micro-structure of the formed samplesare investigated. It is demonstrated that most grains of these samples are equi-axed. This isderived from the high nucleation velocity in the shallow melt pool besides rapid solidification ofthe liquid-state alloy or metal. Bainitic structure, combination of pearlite and ferrite structureand ferrite structure are seen respectively in the samples involving various amounts of carbon owingto no martensitic transformation in these small samples.

Low-power laser irradiation inhibits arecoline-induced fibrosis:an in vitro study

Oral submucous fibrosis （OSF） is a potentially malignant disorder that is characterized by a progressive fibrosis in the oral submucosa. Arecoline, an alkaloid compound of the areca nut, is reported to be a major aetiological factor in the development of OSF. Low-power laser irradiation （LPLI） has been reported to be beneficial in fibrosis prevention in different damaged organs. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential therapeutic effects of LPLI on arecoline-induced fibrosis. Arecoline- stimulated human gingival fibroblasts （HGFs） were treated with or without LPLI. The expression levels of the fibrotic marker genes alpha-smooth muscle actin （a-SMA） and connective tissue growth factor （CTGF/CCN2） were analysed by quantitative real- time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction （RT-PCR） and western blots. In addition, the transcriptional activity of CCN2 was further determined by a reporter assay. The results indicated that arecoline increased the messenger RNA and protein expression of CCN2 and a-SMA in HGF. Interestingly, both LPLI and forskolin, an adenylyl cyclase activator, reduced the expression of arecoline-mediated fibrotic marker genes and inhibited the transcriptional activity of CCN2. Moreover, pretreatment with SQ22536, an adenylyl cyclase inhibitor, blocked LPLI＇s inhibition of the expression of arecoline-mediated fibrotic marker genes. Our data suggest that LPLI may inhibit the expression of arecoline-mediated fibrotic marker genes via the cAMP signalling pathway.

Role of Thermal Stresses in Degradation of High Power Laser Diodes

Catastrophic degradation of high power laser diodes is due to the generation of extended defects inside the active parts of the laser structure during the laser operation.The mechanism driving the degradation is strongly related to the existence of localized thermal stresses generated during the laser operation.These thermal stresses can overcome the yield strength of the materials forming the active part of the laser diode.Different factors contribute to reduce the laser power threshold for degradation.Among them the thermal transport across the laser structure constitutes a critical issue for the reliability of the device.

An accurate and stable method of array element tiling for high-power laser facilities

Due to laser-induced damage, the aperture of optics is one of the main factors limiting the output capability of highpower laser facilities. Because of the general difficulty in achieving large-aperture optics, an alternative solution is to tile some small-aperture ones together. We propose an accurate, stable, and automatic method of array element tiling and verify it on a double-pass 1 × 2 tiled-grating compressor in the XG-III laser facility. The test results show the accuracy and stability of the method. This research provides an efficient way to obtain large-aperture optics for high-power laser facilities.

Trends in ultrashort and ultrahigh power laser pulses based on optical parametric chirped pulse amplification

Since the proof-of-principle demonstration of optical parametric amplification to efficiently amplify chirped laser pulses in 1992, optical parametric chirped pulse amplification（OPCPA） became the most promising method for the amplification of broadband optical pulses. In the meantime, we are witnessing an exciting progress in the development of powerful and ultrashort pulse laser systems that employ chirped pulse parametric amplifiers. The output power and pulse duration of these systems have ranged from a few gigawatts to hundreds of terawatts with a potential of tens of petawatts power level. Meanwhile, the output pulse duration based on optical parametric amplification has entered the range of fewoptical-cycle field. In this paper, we overview the basic principles, trends in development, and current state of the ultrashort and laser systems based on OPCPA, respectively.

Investigation of high power laser coatings

High laser-induced damage threshold and large aperture were focuses on the studies of high power laser coatings. This paper reports the research activities at our center. Several measures were developed for evaluating characters of laser damage, including determination of laser induced damage threshold and detection of absorption based on surface thermal lensing technique. Defect was deemed to be the initial source of laser damage, and was the main factor restricting the laser damage resistance of optical coatings. The contribution of several kinds of typical defects to laser damage was analyzed, and some deposition measures were adopted to control and eliminate the origin of defect. Furthermore, some post-treatment methods were also employed to alleviate the influence of the defect and to improve the laser damage resistance. Correction mask was introduced to improve the thickness uniformity, and the thickness uniformity can be amended to less than 1% in the range of Φ650 mm. Preliminary investigation related to surface deformation was also conducted.

Design and fabrication of triangular inner cladding double-clad ytterbium doped fibre for high power lasers

To improve the performance of double clad high power fibre lasers, inner cladding design plays a significant role. A triangular inner cladding and silica structure second cladding with large air holes go acquire high inner cladding numerical aperture are designed. Single mode and high power output of the fibre lasers need the double clad Yb doped fibre with large core. A fibre with annular refractive index distribution core and low numerical aperture to acquire a large mode area fibre core is designed and fabricated. Furthermore co-doping with aluminium （A1） has been used to improve the solubility of ytterbium （Yb） into silicate network, and the core absorption coefficients of two Yb doped fibres are compared with different A1 concentration experimentally.

High power lasers and ecology of atmosphere (I)

There are many appearances in the literature of reliable observations of studying so-called “jets” and “sprites” - the discharges in the gigantic natural capacitor “Ionosphere-Earth” [1]. The volume of such a discharge is approximately 5-10 thousand cubic kilometers and usually it appears above the surface of ocean. There are the cases also of above mentioned discharges on the ground. The value of the energy transferred to the earth can comprise to several terajoule. Events are accompanied by the emission of the waves of ultra-low frequency. Their study has the significant interest from many points of view. The essence of the observed irregular phenomena consists of the electromechanical conversion of the energy excesses of natural electricity into mechanical and thermal energy of cyclones, typhoons and other natural cataclysms. The ionosphere can retain only the specific quantity of energy. Otherwise, it discards the surpluses of electricity through the atmosphere or transforms them into the energy of storms, in that number and inside the Earth. By using the part of the natural electricity for useful purposes it is possible to govern the weather of planet. Causing the artificial breakdowns of the ionosphere it could be possible to arrange the discharge of the controlled aqueous sediments at the necessary points of the globe. It could be possible as well to attempt to regulate the climate of planet and to decrease the amplitudes of the magnetic storms, earthquakes and hurricanes.

Drivers for High Power Laser Diodes

During the last year the high power laser diodes jumped over the 1 kW level of CW power for a stack, and the commercial 1 cm bars reached 100 W output optical power at the standard wavelengths around 800 nm and 980 nm. The prices are reaching the industry acceptable levels. All Nd∶YAG and fiber industrial lasers manufacturers have developed kW prototypes. Those achievements have set new requirements for the power supplies manufactuers-high and stable output current, and possibilities for fast control of the driving current, keeping safe the expensive laser diode. The fast switching frequencies also allow long range free space communications and optical range finding. The high frequencies allow the design of a 3D laser radar with high resolution and other military applications. The prospects for direct laser diode micro machining are also attractive.

975 nm multimode semiconductor lasers with high-order Bragg diffraction gratings

The 975 nm multimode diode lasers with high-order surface Bragg diffraction gratings have been simulated and calcu-lated using the 2D finite difference time domain(FDTD)algorithm and the scattering matrix method(SMM).The periods and etch depth of the grating parameters have been optimized.A board area laser diode(BA-LD)with high-order diffraction grat-ings has been designed and fabricated.At output powers up to 10.5 W,the measured spectral width of full width at half maxi-mum(FWHM)is less than 0.5 nm.The results demonstrate that the designed high-order surface gratings can effectively nar-row the spectral width of multimode semiconductor lasers at high output power.

Suppression of laser power error in a miniaturized atomic co-magnetometer based on split ratio optimization

A miniaturized atomic spin-exchange relaxation-free(SERF)co-magnetometer measures angular velocity using a balanced polarimetry technique which is easily affected by the laser power.A laser power closed-loop control system is usually used to suppress the fluctuation of the laser power.Although this method can greatly eliminate the fluctuation of the in-loop laser power(the feedback laser),it cannot fully eliminate the fluctuation of the out-of-loop laser power(the signal measurement laser).This leads to SERF gyroscope laser power error,which reduces the inertial measurement accuracy.In this paper,the influence mechanism of the split ratio(the ratio of the in-loop laser power to the out-of-loop laser power)on the out-of-loop laser power control accuracy is analyzed by establishing a laser power transmission model inside and outside the loop.Moreover,a method is developed to improve the out-of-loop laser power stability by optimizing the split ratio.Comparative experiments showed that the relative Allan standard deviation of the out-of-loop laser power decreased from 5.48×10^(-6)to 2.62×10^(-6)at 100 s,and decreased by an order of magnitude from 1.76×10^(-5)to 3.30×10^(-6)at1000 s.Correspondingly,the rate ramp coefficient in the Allan standard deviation curve of the SERF gyroscope test data decreased from 1.312[(°/h)/h]to 0.246[(°/h)/h].And the bias stability increased from 0.032°/h to 0.019°/h.Therefore,the proposed method can improve the long-term stability of the probe laser power and effectively suppress the laser power error of the SERF gyroscope.

An evaluation of sustainability and societal impact of high-power laser and fusion technologies:a case for a new European research infrastructure

Fusion energy research is delivering impressive new results emerging from different infrastructures and industrial devices evolving rapidly from ideas to proof-of-principle demonstration and aiming at the conceptual design of reactors for the production of electricity.A major milestone has recently been announced in laser fusion by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and is giving new thrust to laser-fusion energy research worldwide.Here we discuss how these circumstances strongly suggest the need for a European intermediate-energy facility dedicated to the physics and technology of laser-fusion ignition,the physics of fusion materials and advanced technologies for high-repetitionrate,high-average-power broadband lasers.We believe that the participation of the broader scientific community and the increased engagement of industry,in partnership with research and academic institutions,make most timely the construction of this infrastructure of extreme scientific attractiveness.

Generation of high power laser at 1314 nm from a diode-side-pumped Nd:YLF module

We demonstrate a high power continuous-wave （CW） and acoustic-optically （AO） Q-switched 1314-nm laser with a diode-side-pumped Nd：YLF module. A maximum CW output power of 21.6 W is obtained with a diode pump power of 180 W, corresponding to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 12.0% and a slope efficiency of 16.1%. In the Q-switching operation, a highest pulse energy of 3.8 mJ is obtained at a pulse repetition rate of 1 kHz. The shortest pulse width and maximum single peak power are 101.9 ns and 37.3 kW, respectively.

Simulation study of broadband long-pulsed amplification in high-power laser systems

Accurately and efficiently predicting the fundamental-frequency temporal shape of broadband long-pulsed lasers is very important in research on the properties of high-power laser amplifiers. In this study, we first propose that analytic electric polarization in the temporal domain is applied to broadband long-pulsed pulse amplification. We first verify the accuracy of this algorithm in the dozens of picoseconds range and the results are consistent with Miro software. Then we simulate the broadband long-pulsed amplification. The simulation results indicate that the front edge of the output pulse is more enlarged than the end edge owing to saturation and that the gain narrowing induces severe amplitude modulation. Analytic electric polarization in the temporal domain is effec- tive and precise for investigating the broadband pulse amplification in the time scale from dozens of picoseconds to nanoseconds, and the computation time can be decreased by at least 4 orders of magnitude.

EMP control and characterization on high-power laser systems

Giant electromagnetic pulses(EMP) generated during the interaction of high-power lasers with solid targets can seriously degrade electrical measurements and equipment. EMP emission is caused by the acceleration of hot electrons inside the target, which produce radiation across a wide band from DC to terahertz frequencies. Improved understanding and control of EMP is vital as we enter a new era of high repetition rate, high intensity lasers(e.g. the Extreme Light Infrastructure).We present recent data from the VULCAN laser facility that demonstrates how EMP can be readily and effectively reduced. Characterization of the EMP was achieved using B-dot and D-dot probes that took measurements for a range of different target and laser parameters. We demonstrate that target stalk geometry, material composition, geodesic path length and foil surface area can all play a significant role in the reduction of EMP. A combination of electromagnetic wave and 3 D particle-in-cell simulations is used to inform our conclusions about the effects of stalk geometry on EMP,providing an opportunity for comparison with existing charge separation models.

Effect of Ni content on high power laser ablation behavior of coatings sprayed by Ni covering graphite/SiO2 powders

Faced with the challenge of high energy ablation problems, especially for laser ablation, effective energy dissipation protective materials fabricate by efficient preparation method is a feasible solution. The Ni-graphite/Si O2 coatings with different Ni content were prepared by plasma spraying method with optimized plasma spraying parameters. All coatings are pure without oxidation and dense. Their ablation behaviors were investigated by high power continuous wave laser. The results indicate that the Ni-graphite/Si O2 coating with appropriate Ni content could realize the purpose of energy consumption by endothermal reaction of graphite/Si O2 and reflection improvement. High Ni content will block the occurrence of endothermal reaction of graphite/Si O2 and increase the heat diffusion to interior part of coating, which can make the ablation situation of coating more serious.

Simulation of High Power Er/Yb Codoped Fiber Linear Cavity Lasers

The performances of high power Er/Yb codoped fiber linear cavity lasers are investigated numerically. The numerical analysis is based on the iterative solution of rate equations for population density of the Er/Yb ions. The behaviors of co-pump and counter-pump methods are contrasted. Dependence of output power on input pump power, output reflectivity, operating wavelength and active fiber length is simulated, respectively. High conversion efficiency Er/Yb laser output is obtained in simulations and experiments.

Evolution of low-frequency noise passing through a spatial filter in a high power laser system

The theoretical model of spatial noise passing through a spatial filter is established in high power laser system under the small signal approximation. The transmission characteristic for a noise signal passing through spatial filters with different magnifications is analyzed by numerical simulation, according to the actual structure of the high power laser system. The results show that the spatial modulation period of low-frequency noise getting through the pinhole will be proportional to the magnification of the spatial filter. When the magnification is less than 1, the safe low-frequency noise will be extruded into the high-frequency region, which is the fast increasing part, and finally develops into the most dangerous part which can damage the optical devices. The conclusion of this research improves the relay imaging theory of a spatial filter and provides an important theoretical basis for a general design of high power laser systems.