[en] Optical vortex beams carry optical orbital angular momentum (OAM) and can induce an orbital motion of trapped particles in optical trapping. We show that the state of polarization (SOP) of vortex beams will affect the details of this optically induced orbital motion to some extent. Numerical results demonstrate that focusing the vortex beams with circular, radial or azimuthal polarizations can induce a uniform orbital motion on a trapped Rayleigh particle, while in the focal field of the vortex beam with linear polarization the particle experiences a non-uniform orbital motion. Among the formers, the vortex beam with circular polarization induces a maximum optical torque on the particle. Furthermore, by varying the topological charge of the vortex beams, the vortex beam with circular polarization gives rise to an optimum torque superior to those given by the other three vortex beams. These facts suggest that the circularly polarized vortex beam is more suitable for rotating particles. - Highlights: • States of polarization of vortex beams affect the optically induced orbital motion of particles. • The dependences of the force and orbital torque on the topological charge, the size and the absorptivity of particles were calculated. • Focused vortex beams with circular, radial or azimuthal polarizations induce a uniform orbital motion on particles. • Particles experience a non-uniform orbital motion in the focused linearly polarized vortex beam. • The circularly polarized vortex beam is a superior candidate for rotating particles.

[en] We present a set of beams which combine the properties of accelerating beams and (conventional) diffraction-free beams. These beams can travel along a desired trajectory while keeping an approximately invariant transverse profile, which may be (higher-order) Bessel-, Mathieu- or parabolic-nondiffracting-like beams, depending on the initial complex amplitude distribution. A possible application of these beams presented here may be found in optical trapping field. For example, a higher-order Bessel-like beam, which has a hollow (transverse) pattern, is suitable for guiding low-refractive-index or metal particles along a curve. - Highlights: • A set of beams having arbitrary trajectories of accelerating and nondiffracting behaviors are generalized and presented. • Bessel-like accelerating beams are generalized to the higher-order (hollow) version. • Mathieu-like accelerating beams and parabolic-nondiffracting-like accelerating beams are presented. • A possible application of these beams may be found in optical trapping and guiding of particles

[en] Highlights: • A novel energetic acrylate-terminated oligomer was designed and prepared. • A new 3D-printed gun propellant with higher energy was fabricated by SLA. • The suitability of this new material and its composites on SLA was demonstrated. Propellants are the main energy source in the internal ballistic process. The use of 3D printing has promised to produce propellants with complex geometries. However, due to the degraded energy properties of propellants using an inert binder, there is a critical need to develop a printable energetic resin. In this paper, a novel energetic acrylate-terminated poly–3–nitratomethyl–3–methyloxetane (APNIMMO) oligomer was prepared and characterized. The performance of a new composite propellant composed of APNIMMO and CL-20 (Hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane Dodecane) was also demonstrated. The new energetic printable resin and its composites are suitable for stereolithography (SLA) 3D printing, offering not only an improved thermodynamic energy, but also a substantially improved burn rate. Compared with the inert binder, the energetic binder offers the possibility to improve the thermodynamic energy by 15% and the burn rate at 100 MPa by 480% for 3D printed propellants.

[en] Considering the importance of a microbial strain capable of increased cellulase production, a mutant strain UP4 of Trichoderma viride was developed by ultraviolet (UV) and plasma mutation. The mutant produced a 21.0 IU/mL FPase which was 98.1% higher than that of the parent strain Trichoderma viride ZY-1. In addition, the effect of ultraviolet and plasma mutagenesis was not merely simple superimposition of single ultraviolet mutation and single plasma mutation. Meanwhile, there appeared a capsule around some of the spores after the ultraviolet and plasma treatment, namely, the spore surface of the strain became fuzzy after ultraviolet or ultraviolet and plasma mutagenesis.

[en] We present an approach to separating the angular momentum (AM) flux of monochromatic light into its spin and orbital parts based on a symmetrized AM tensor $⟨\stackrel{¯<!--\; ??\; -->}{\mathcal{M}}⟩.$ When considering the AM flux for a light beam through its cross section and that for an outgoing wave through a spherical surface in the far-field zone, the separation gives the desired results: the spin/orbital AM flux equals the integral of spin/orbital AM density times some weighting factor accounting for energy flux. When applied to Bessel beams, the obtained spin and orbital AM fluxes are exactly the same as those given by the paper (2014 New J. Phys. 16 093037) based on the canonical AM tensor separation. Furthermore, from the spin AM flux integral, the divergence-free spin AM tensor $⟨\stackrel{¯<!--\; ??\; -->}{\mathbf{S}}⟩$ can be identified. We define the orbital AM tensor to be the difference between the total AM tensor $⟨\stackrel{¯<!--\; ??\; -->}{\mathcal{M}}⟩$ and $⟨\stackrel{¯<!--\; ??\; -->}{\mathbf{S}}⟩.$ Since $⟨\stackrel{¯<!--\; ??\; -->}{\mathcal{M}}⟩$ is divergence-free, the integral for either spin and orbital AM flux, can be made on any closed surface. (paper)

[en] Optical spin angular momentum, an intrinsic part of optical angular momemtum, can induce a spinning motion of a trapped particle around its own axis in optical manipulation. Focusing of a type of double-vortex (DV) input field obtained by linearly superposing two optical vortex beams with equal but opposite topological charges, yields a multi-lobe focal field, each of which has non-vanishing optical spin angular momentum, and is capable of trapping particle while spinning the particle around a certain axis. Significantly, both the focusing properties and the spinning dynamics are strongly polarization dependent. For instance, the focused field of a circularly polarized double-vortex (CPDV) beam carries transverse and longitudinal spin angular momenta, inducing axial spinning of the trapped particles, whereas the focused field of a radially polarized double-vortex (RPDV) beam possesses purely transverse spin angular momentum and can drive the particles to spin transversely to the optical axis. These results may find potential applications in light beam shaping and optical manipulations. (paper)

[en] Highlights: • APNIMMO/CL-20 propellant was 3D printed by photopolymerization method. • Thermal behavior and decomposition kinetics have been investigated. • Interesting two overlapped decomposition peaks were studied. • APNIMMO has a significant effect on activation energies and reactivity. Energetic photocurable binder has been developed to improve the energy content of 3D printed propellants. Thermal decomposition study is a significant part for evaluating novel binders and relevant propellants. In this paper, acrylate-terminated poly-3-nitratomethyl-3-methyloxetane (APNIMMO) and a series of formulas containing 2,4,6,8,10,12-hexanitro-2,4,6,8,10,12-hexaazaisowurtzitane (CL-20) were prepared by the stereolithography (SLA) printing. The thermal performance and decomposition kinetics were investigated by means of the nonisothermal DSC (differential scanning calorimetry) techniques. Additionally, simultaneous DSC-FTIR were employed to corroborate the thermal analysis results. The compatibility of the various admixtures was confirmed through an additional kinetic study for which the Arrhenius parameters were computed by different isoconversional Kissinger method and modified Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose (KAS) method. The decomposition products were also detected by in-situ DSC-MS-FTIR. The obtained results from the different techniques are presented and discussed.

[en] We present a family of one-dimensional accelerating beams in the paraxial limit whose trajectory is described, in normalized coordinates (ξ, s), by a non-parabolic curve ξ = α(s) with α(s) denoting the transverse shift of beams. When taking different values of the parameters appearing in α(s), three types of accelerating beams are observed. The first type accelerates initially along X direction and almost stops accelerating after traveling a large distance. The second type is seen to travel along a straight line with an angle with respect to the Z-axis at large distance. The beam of the last type is seen to leave initially upward and cross the Z-axis downward after traveling some distance. (paper)

[en] Based on first-principles calculations, we studied the effects of charging on the structure, binding energy and electronic properties of silicene with alkali metal (AM) atom (Li, Na or K) adsorption. In AMSi₂, electron doping enlarges the lattice constant of silicene, while the influence of hole doping is non-monotonic. In AMSi₈, the lattice constant increases/decreases almost linearly with the increase in electron/hole doping. In addition, the AM–Si vertical distance can be greatly enlarged by excessive hole doping in both AMSi₂ and AMSi₈ systems. When the hole doping is as large as  +e per unit cell, both AMSi₂ and AMSi₈ can be transformed from metal to semiconductor. However, the binding energy would be negative in the AM⁺ Si₂ semiconductor. It suggests AM⁺ Si₂ is unstable in this case. In addition, the electron doping and the AM–Si vertical distance would greatly influence the band gap of silicene in LiSi₈ and NaSi₈, while the band gap in KSi₈ is relatively stable. Therefore, KSi₈ may be a more practicable material in nanotechnology. (paper)

[en] To evaluate the predictive value of intratumoral and peritumoral radiomics and radiomics nomogram for preoperative lymphovascular invasion (LVI) status and overall survival (OS) in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In total, 240 NSCLC patients from our institution were randomly divided into the training cohort (n = 145) and internal validation cohort (n = 95) with a ratio of 6:4, and 65 patients from the Cancer Imaging Archive were enrolled as the external validation cohort. We extracted 1217 CT-based radiomics features from the gross tumor volume (GTV) and gross tumor volume incorporating peritumoral 3, 6, and 9 mm regions (GPTV${}_3$, GPTV${}_6$, GPTV${}_9$). A radiomics nomogram based on clinical independent predictors and radiomics score (Radscore) of the best radiomics model was constructed. The correlation between factors and OS was evaluated with the Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox proportional hazards regression analysis. Compared with GTV, GPTV${}_3$, and GPTV${}_6$ radiomics models, GPTV${}_9$ radiomics model exhibited better prediction performance with the AUCs of 0.82, 0.75, and 0.67 in the training, internal validation, and external validation cohorts, respectively. In the clinical model, smoking and clinical stage were independent predictors. The nomogram incorporating independent predictors and GPTV${}_9$-Radscore was clinically useful, with the AUCs of 0.89, 0.83, and 0.66 in three cohorts. Pathological LVI, GPTV${}_9$-Radscore-predicted, and Nomoscore-predicted LVI were associated with poor OS (p < 0.05). CT-based radiomics nomogram can predict LVI and OS in patients with NSCLC and may help in making personalized treatment strategies before surgery. Compared with GTV, GPTV${}_3$, and GPTV${}_6$ radiomics models, GPTV${}_9$ radiomics model showed better prediction performance for LVI status in NSCLC. The radiomics nomogram based on GPTV${}_9$ radiomics features and clinical independent predictors could effectively predict LVI status and OS in NSCLC and outperformed the clinical model. The radiomics nomogram had a wider scope of clinical application.