Supercontinuum light sources are powerful light sources for spectroscopic imaging. Using this laser source, we developed a multi-modal (coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS), second harmonic generation (SHG), sum-frequency generation (SFG), third harmonic generation (THG), third-order sum frequency generation (TSFG)) nonlinear optical imaging system, and visualized living cells and tissues without staining or molecular labeling.
The number of vehicles in the world is expected to continue to increase over time, primarily in developing countries, and both environmental and safety matters will be major challenges to tackle. To help solve these issues, automotive and automotive component manufacturers are working more than ever before on improvements such as increased fuel savings by motorizing some functions of the vehicles and the development of safety systems for autonomous driving. Consequently, the demand for automotive semiconductors continues to grow and manufacturers are actively developing semiconductors that meet severe in-vehicle requirements. In this paper the latest application trends and technology are introduced.
An experimental method for probing and mapping fluctuations in a material by detecting fluctuation-induced electromagnetic evanescent waves on the material surface is described.
Examples of applications are described such as (i) imaging of thermally activated evanescent waves on metals, (ii) visualization of current-induced hot electrons in narrow metal wires and (iii) the visualization of hot electrons in GaAs/AlGaAs nano-devices.
Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMD) are three-atom-thick atomic layers, which have been attracting a great deal of attention. In this report, recent results on chemical vapor deposition and molecular beam epitaxy growth of high-quality heterostructures of TMD and hexagonal boron nitride are introduced.
Structural transformations and the kinetics of Pt cathode electrocatalysts in a PEFC, which have historically been a black box, were successfully investigated using an in situ time-resolved XAFS technique. The XAFS analyses of Pt3M/C (M = None, Co, Ni) electrocatalysts revealed that, the rate enhancements of the reductive transformation processes of the Pt valence change, the Pt-Pt bond reformation, and the Pt-O bond breaking, by second metal alloying, were some of the most critical factors of their superior ORR activity and durability. Different degradation aspects between Pt/C and Pt3Co/C during ADT were also found, as well as that hard Pt agglomeration did not lead to a transformation rate loss in Pt/C, while suppressed Pt agglomeration with unavoidable Co dissolution led to a decrease of kinetic performance in Pt3Co/C.
Nonequilibrium plasma is recognized as possessing a catalytic function because plasma-generated reactive species initiate chemical reactions at much lower temperatures than thermochemical reactions. Moreover, the energy necessary for an endothermic reaction is delivered by electric charges independently of the temperature gradient. Such a unique catalysis is enhanced dramatically when nonequilibrium plasma is generated over solid catalysts, accelerating low temperature surface reactions by lowering the apparent activation energy. The application of plasma catalysis has been growing rapidly with the controlled growth of carbon nanomaterials, atomic layer deposition and the low temperature activation of alkanes. This paper focuses on the nonequilibrium plasma catalytic conversion of CH4 and CO2, exploring new frontiers of plasma science in the energy and environmental fields.
Recently, organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) exploiting thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) have made remarkable progress. In principle, TADF materials can convert all electrogenerated singlet and triplet excitons into photons, enhancing OLED efficiency dramatically. Through a simple high-throughput screening method based on theoretical computations and simple experiments, we discovered highly-efficient TADF materials for vacuum-deposited, solution-processed, and solution-processed host-free OLEDs. These devices achieved external quantum efficiencies of 29.6%, 18.6%, and 17.6%, respectively, without using any out-coupling treatments. Our recent multiscale charge transport simulations in amorphous organic thin layers are also shown. On the basis of the combined use of quantum chemical calculations, molecular dynamics, and kinetic Monte Carlo simulations, experimental charge mobilities are well reproduced without using any adjustable parameters.
As a biology experiment, this article briefly presents how to make an artificial cell membrane composed of lipid molecules. A bilayer lipid membrane (BLM), a model for a biological membrane, has been investigated for many years in biology as a reaction field for various biomolecules. We offer an idea for a simple method of BLM formation, and touch on electrical measurement for the investigation of BLMs.