Tunable VUV-to-VIS ultrafast pulses generation in hollow capillary fibers with 15.7% dispersive-wave efficiency at 320 nm.

We report a compact hollow-capillary-fiber (HCF) system that generates tunable dispersive-wave (DW) pulses spanning the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) to visible (VIS) spectral regions. Through optimization of the HCF and gas parameters, we demonstrate continuously tunable DW generation with a wider tuning range (147-520 nm) than previously reported in similar compact systems (200-380 nm). Using a 140-μm-core, 1-m-long helium-filled HCF, we enhance deep-UV pulse generation efficiency via spectral blue-shifting of the DW at a relatively high soliton order, achieving a record 15.

Single-Cell 5 μm-Resolution Dual-Polarity MALDI-MS Imaging without Matrix Reapplication.

High-resolution mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) plays a vital role in lipidomics, yet challenges persist in analyzing lipids at the single-cell level due to limitations in spatial resolution and lipid coverage. While existing strategies based on a single matrix application step for dual-polarity provide high lipid coverage from the same sample and enable easy sample preparation, matrix depletion limits their spatial resolution to 10 μm, preventing their application to single-cell imaging. Here, we present a single-cell/subcellular resolution strategy for dual-polarity matrix-assisted laser desorption and ionization mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI-MSI) that eliminates the need for matrix reapplication.

Coherent manipulation of second-harmonic generation via terahertz-field mediated phonon-polariton in zinc oxide.

The coherent control of phonon polaritons (PhPs) in holds transformative potential for nonlinear photonics. We demonstrate terahertz-driven excitation of low-frequency PhPs in zinc oxide (ZnO) crystals, with their nonlinear dynamics resolved via time-resolved second harmonic generation (SHG) spectroscopy. By achieving phase matching via nine sequential reflections within a millimeter-scale crystal, we observe sustained SHG oscillations with 3-4 THz modulation frequencies, achieving optimal extinction ratios of ~18 dB that persist for 90 picoseconds-a temporal span directly governed by polariton propagation dynamics.

Topoisomerase I Inhibition in ETV4-overexpressed Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Promotes Replication and Transcription Mediated R-Loop Accumulation and DNA Damage.

Coordinating transcription and replication via transcription factors (TFs) is a conserved mechanism in higher eukaryotes. The role of TFs in regulating these processes in cancers remains unclear. Here, it is shown that oncogenetic ETS transcription factor ETV4 controls DNA replication through both transcriptional and non-transcriptional mechanisms in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

By promoting growth and development, castor bean meal biofertilizer improves the yield and quality of Tartary buckwheat and indirectly improves the growth and development of Tartary buckwheat sprouts.

Introduction: Fertilizer selection and application is closely related to crop yield and quality. Tartary buckwheat is a medicinal and food crops, has a broad space for development. However, the effect of castor bean meal biofertilizer on the growth and development, yield and quality of Tartary buckwheat and Tartary buckwheat buds is not clear.

Silicon-based polarization beam splitters with broadband subwavelength grating TM-pass polarizers.

Polarization beam splitters (PBSs) are key components for polarization management in photonic integrated circuits. In this work, we demonstrate a novel silicon-based PBS with a broadband subwavelength grating (SWG) TM-pass polarizer. The experimental results show that less than 1 dB insertion loss (IL) and more than 30 dB crosstalk (CT) are realized over the wavelength range from 1500 nm to 1561 nm for both TE and TM polarizations.

Systematic review and randomized controlled trial meta-analysis of the effects of physical activity interventions and their components on repetitive stereotyped behaviors in patients with autism spectrum disorder.

Objective: To systematically evaluate the effect of exercise intervention and its components on repetitive stereotyped behaviors in patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Methods: A computer-based search was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, The Cochrane Library, and EMbase databases for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) related to exercise interventions for repetitive stereotyped behaviors in patients with ASD. The search covered all available data from the inception of each database until January 2025.

Compact 500 nm ultra-broadband seed laser for WNOPCPA prototype facility.

A 500 nm ultra-broadband laser covering wavelengths of 700-1200 nm is built as a seed for the prototype facility of a near-single-cycle petawatt laser project that will use wide-angle non-collinear optical parametric chirped pulse amplification (WNOPCPA). Multiple thin-plate compression and optical parametric amplification are used to create the ultra-broadband spectrum and amplify the newly generated spectra, especially those far away from that of the driving laser, respectively. The driving laser is a sub-picosecond Yb:YAG laser with a full-width bandwidth of ∼20 nm centered at 1030 nm, and the output spectral bandwidth is ∼500 nm (∼700-1200 nm), showing a spectral broadening of ∼25 times.

Observation of sub-relativistic collisionless shock generation and breakout dynamics.

Relativistic collisionless shocks, which are ubiquitous in the cosmos, play a significant role in various astrophysical phenomena such as gamma-ray bursts, PeVatrons, and supernova shock breakouts. Here we present a demonstration using a compact femtosecond laser system to generate sub-relativistic collisionless shocks (0.03c) under astrophysically relevant conditions.

Tunable ultraviolet dispersive-wave emission driven directly by 40-fs Ti:sapphire laser pulses in a hollow capillary fiber.

We demonstrate that by using a 1-m-long gas-filled hollow capillary fiber (HCF) with a core diameter of 100 μm, tunable ultraviolet (UV) dispersive-wave (DW) pulses can be generated in a compact, single-stage setup driven directly by 40-fs Ti:sapphire laser pulses. By adjusting the gas type and pressure inside the HCF, the central wavelength of the UV DW can be continuously tuned from 185 nm to ∼450 nm. In the experiment, we found that for ∼320-450 nm DW generation, Raman-active gas filled in the HCF can efficiently suppress the pulse fission effect of the high-order soliton due to the Raman-induced pulse energy dissipation, leading to the high-quality DW generation at these wavelengths with smooth, single-peak spectra.

Two pathways for reducing soil aggregate organic carbon mineralisation via minimum tillage under a long-term field experiment.

Soil aggregates are the basic units of soil organic carbon (SOC) mineralisation. However, it is unclear through which pathways soil aggregates and their hydrolytic activities affect SOC mineralisation under minimum tillage. For this purpose, we conducted incubation experiments.

Laboratory observation of ion drift acceleration via reflection off laser-produced magnetized collisionless shocks.

Fermi acceleration is believed to be the primary mechanism to produce high-energy charged particles in the Universe, where charged particles gain energy successively from multiple reflections. Here, we present the direct laboratory experimental evidence of ion energization from single reflection off a supercritical collisionless shock, an essential component of Fermi acceleration, in a laser-produced magnetized plasma. A quasi-monoenergetic ion beam with two to four times the shock velocity was observed, which is consistent with the fast ion component observed in the Earth's bow shock.

Probing Berry Phase Effect in Topological Surface States.

We have observed the Berry phase effect associated with interband coherence in topological surface states (TSSs) using two-color high-harmonic spectroscopy. This Berry phase accumulates along the evolution path of strong field-driven electron-hole quasiparticles in electronic bands with strong spin-orbit coupling. By introducing a secondary weak field, we perturb the evolution of Dirac fermions in TSSs and thus provide access to the Berry phase.

Generation of Quantum Vortex Electrons with Intense Laser Pulses.

Accelerating a free electron to high-energy forms the basis for studying particle and nuclear physics. Here it is shown that the wave function of such an energetic electron can be further manipulated with the femtosecond intense lasers. During the scattering between a high-energy electron and a circularly polarized laser pulse, a regime is found where the enormous spin angular momenta of laser photons can be efficiently transferred to the electron orbital angular momentum (OAM).

Annexin-A1 tripeptide enhances functional recovery and mitigates brain damage in traumatic brain injury by inhibiting neuroinflammation and preventing ANXA1 nuclear translocation in mice.

This study explores the role and mechanism of Annexin-A1 Tripeptide (ANXA1sp) in mitigating neuronal damage and promoting functional recovery in a mouse model of traumatic brain injury (TBI). Our goal is to identify ANXA1sp as a potential therapeutic drug candidate for TBI treatment. Adult male C57BL/6J mice were subjected to controlled cortical impact (CCI) to simulate TBI, supplemented by an in vitro model of glutamate-induced TBI in HT22 cells.

Spatiotemporal aberrations due to the groove density mismatching of compression gratings in ultra-intense femtosecond lasers.

The groove density mismatching of compression gratings, an often-neglected key issue, can induce significant spatiotemporal aberrations especially for super-intense femtosecond lasers. We mainly investigate the angular chirp and the consequent degradation of the effective focused intensity introduced by the groove density mismatching of compression gratings in ultra-intense femtosecond lasers. The results indicate that the tolerances of grating groove density mismatching will rapidly decrease with the beam aperture or spectral bandwidth increases.

A comprehensive study on three typical photoacid generators using photoelectron spectroscopy and ab initio calculations.

Conducting a comprehensive molecular-level evaluation of a photoacid generator (PAG) and its subsequent impact on lithography performance can facilitate the rational design of a promising 193 nm photoresist tailored to specific requirements. In this study, we integrated spectroscopy and computational techniques to meticulously investigate the pivotal factors of three prototypical PAG anions, p-toluenesulfonate (pTS-), 2-(trifluoromethyl)benzene-1-sulfonate (TFMBS-), and triflate (TF-), in the lithography process. Our findings reveal a significant redshift in the absorption spectra caused by specific PAG anions, attributed to their involvement in electronic transition processes, thereby enhancing the transparency of the standard PAG cation, triphenylsulfonium (TPS+), particularly at ∼193 nm.

Spatial mode cleaning and efficient nonlinear pulse compression to sub-50 fs in a gas-filled multipass cell.

We demonstrate a gas-filled multipass cell (MPC) that cleaned the spatial mode of a spatial-filter-free 250 W, 100 kHz, 445 fs driven source based on an Innoslab amplifier and compressed the pulse duration to 41 fs simultaneously. The multipass cell acted as a spatial filter and benefited from its discrete waveguide nature, in which the input beam quality factor M was improved from 1.53 to a near-diffraction-limited value of 1.

A nitroreductase-responsive fluorescence turn-on photosensitizer for lysosomes imaging and photodynamic therapy.

Nitroreductase (NTR) is a frequently used biomarker for the assessment of hypoxia level in tumors. As one of the main sources of enzymes, the dysfunction of lysosomes typically leads to various diseases. In this study, an NTR-triggered lysosome-targeting probe, M-TPE-P, was designed based on a tetraphenylethylene core.

Reconfigurable Ag/HfO/NiO/Pt Memristors with Stable Synchronous Synaptic and Neuronal Functions for Renewable Homogeneous Neuromorphic Computing System.

Artificial synapses and bionic neurons offer great potential in highly efficient computing paradigms. However, complex requirements for specific electronic devices in neuromorphic computing have made memristors face the challenge of process simplification and universality. Herein, reconfigurable Ag/HfO/NiO/Pt memristors are designed for feasible switching between volatile and nonvolatile modes by compliance current controlled Ag filaments, which enables stable and reconfigurable synaptic and neuronal functions.

Terahertz-triggered ultrafast nonlinear optical activities in two-dimensional centrosymmetric PtSe.

The nonlinear mechanisms of polarization and optical fields can induce extensive responses in materials. In this study, we report on two kinds of nonlinear mechanisms in the topological semimetal PtSe crystal under the excitation of intense terahertz (THz) pulses, which are manipulated by the real and imaginary parts of the nonlinear susceptibility of PtSe. Regarding the real part, the broken inversion symmetry of PtSe is achieved through a THz-electric-field polarization approach, which is characterized by second harmonic generation (SHG) measurements.

Stable, intense supercontinuum light generation at 1 kHz by electric field assisted femtosecond laser filamentation in air.

Supercontinuum (SC) light source has advanced ultrafast laser spectroscopy in condensed matter science, biology, physics, and chemistry. Compared to the frequently used photonic crystal fibers and bulk materials, femtosecond laser filamentation in gases is damage-immune for supercontinuum generation. A bottleneck problem is the strong jitters from filament induced self-heating at kHz repetition rate level.

Gigahertz electromagnetic pulse emission from femtosecond relativistic laser-irradiated solid targets.

The interactions between high-intensity laser and matter produce particle flux and electromagnetic radiation over a wide energy range. The generation of extremely intense transient fields in the radio frequency-microwave regime has been observed in femtosecond-to-nanosecond laser pulses with 10-10-W/cm intensity on both conductive and dielectric targets. These fields typically cause saturation and damage to electronic equipment inside and near an experimental chamber; nevertheless, they can also be effectively used as diagnostic tools.