| 1. |
- Thomas, Richard D., et al.
(författare)
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The double electrostatic ion ring experiment : A unique cryogenic electrostatic storage ring for merged ion-beams studies
- 2011
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Ingår i: Review of Scientific Instruments. - : AIP Publishing. - 0034-6748 .- 1089-7623. ; 82:6, s. 065112-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We describe the design of a novel type of storage device currently under construction at Stockholm University, Sweden, using purely electrostatic focussing and deflection elements, in which ion beams of opposite charges are confined under extreme high vacuum cryogenic conditions in separate rings and merged over a common straight section. The construction of this double electrostatic ion ring experiment uniquely allows for studies of interactions between cations and anions at low and well-defined internal temperatures and centre-of-mass collision energies down to about 10 K and 10 meV, respectively. Position sensitive multi-hit detector systems have been extensively tested and proven to work in cryogenic environments and these will be used to measure correlations between reaction products in, for example, electron-transfer processes. The technical advantages of using purely electrostatic ion storage devices over magnetic ones are many, but the most relevant are: electrostatic elements which are more compact and easier to construct; remanent fields, hysteresis, and eddy-currents, which are of concern in magnetic devices, are no longer relevant; and electrical fields required to control the orbit of the ions are not only much easier to create and control than the corresponding magnetic fields, they also set no upper mass limit on the ions that can be stored. These technical differences are a boon to new areas of fundamental experimental research, not only in atomic and molecular physics but also in the boundaries of these fields with chemistry and biology. For examples, studies of interactions with internally cold molecular ions will be particular useful for applications in astrophysics, while studies of solvated ionic clusters will be of relevance to aeronomy and biology.
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| 2. |
- Andersson, M., et al.
(författare)
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Using optical tweezers for measuring the interaction forces between human bone cells and implant surfaces: System design and force calibration
- 2007
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Ingår i: Rev Sci Instrum. - : AIP Publishing. ; 78:7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Optical tweezers were used to study the interaction and attachment of human bone cells to various types of medical implant materials. Ideally, the implant should facilitate cell attachment and promote migration of the progenitor cells in order to decrease the healing time. It is therefore of interest, in a controlled manner, to be able to monitor the cell adhesion process. Results from such studies would help foresee the clinical outcome of integrating medical implants. The interactions between two primary cell culture models, human gingival fibroblasts and bone forming human osteoblast cells, and three different implant materials, glass, titanium, and hydroxyapatite, were studied. A novel type of optical tweezers, which has a newly designed quadrant detector and a powerful 3 W laser was constructed and force calibrated using two different methods: one method in which the stiffness of the optical trap was obtained by monitoring the phase lag between the trap and the moved object when imposing a forced oscillation on the trapped object and another method in which the maximum trapping force was derived from the critical velocity at which the object escapes the trap. Polystyrene beads as well as cells were utilized for the calibrations. This is the first time that cells have been used directly for these types of force calibrations and, hence, direct measurements of forces exerted on cells can be performed, thus avoiding the difficulties often encountered when translating the results obtained from cell measurements to the calibrations obtained with reference materials. This more straightforward approach represents an advantage in comparison to established methods.
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| 3. |
- Knoll, Peter, et al.
(författare)
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Improved scatter correction with factor analysis for planar and SPECT imaging
- 2017
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Ingår i: Review of Scientific Instruments. - : AIP Publishing. - 0034-6748 .- 1089-7623. ; 88:9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Quantitative nuclear medicine imaging is an increasingly important frontier. In order to achieve quantitative imaging, various interactions of photons with matter have to be modeled and compensated. Although correction for photon attenuation has been addressed by including x-ray CT scans (accurate), correction for Compton scatter remains an open issue. The inclusion of scattered photons within the energy window used for planar or SPECT data acquisition decreases the contrast of the image. While a number of methods for scatter correction have been proposed in the past, in this work, we propose and assess a novel, user-independent framework applying factor analysis (FA). Extensive Monte Carlo simulations for planar and tomographic imaging were performed using the SIMIND software. Furthermore, planar acquisition of two Petri dishes filled with 99mTc solutions and a Jaszczak phantom study (Data Spectrum Corporation, Durham, NC, USA) using a dual head gamma camera were performed. In order to use FA for scatter correction, we subdivided the applied energy window into a number of sub-windows, serving as input data. FA results in two factor images (photo-peak, scatter) and two corresponding factor curves (energy spectra). Planar and tomographic Jaszczak phantom gamma camera measurements were recorded. The tomographic data (simulations and measurements) were processed for each angular position resulting in a photo-peak and a scatter data set. The reconstructed transaxial slices of the Jaszczak phantom were quantified using an ImageJ plugin. The data obtained by FA showed good agreement with the energy spectra, photo-peak, and scatter images obtained in all Monte Carlo simulated data sets. For comparison, the standard dual-energy window (DEW) approach was additionally applied for scatter correction. FA in comparison with the DEW method results in significant improvements in image accuracy for both planar and tomographic data sets. FA can be used as a user-independent approach for scatter correction in nuclear medicine.
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| 4. |
- Micke, Patrick, et al.
(författare)
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The Heidelberg compact electron beam ion traps
- 2018
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Ingår i: Review of Scientific Instruments. - : AIP Publishing. - 0034-6748 .- 1089-7623. ; 89:6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Electron beam ion traps (EBITs) are ideal tools for both production and study of highly charged ions (HCIs). In order to reduce their construction, maintenance, and operation costs, we have developed a novel, compact, room-temperature design, the Heidelberg Compact EBIT (HC-EBIT). Four already commissioned devices operate at the strongest fields (up to 0.86 T) reported for such EBITs using permanent magnets, run electron beam currents up to 80 mA, and energies up to 10 keV. They demonstrate HCI production, trapping, and extraction of pulsed Ar16+ bunches and continuous 100 pA ion beams of highly charged Xe up to charge state 29+, already with a 4 mA, 2 keV electron beam. Moreover, HC-EBITs offer large solid-angle ports and thus high photon count rates, e.g., in x-ray spectroscopy of dielectronic recombination in HCIs up to Fe24+, achieving an electron-energy resolving power of E/ΔE > 1500 at 5 keV. Besides traditional on-axis electron guns, we have also implemented a novel off-axis gun for laser, synchrotron, and free-electron laser applications, offering clear optical access along the trap axis. We report on its first operation at a synchrotron radiation facility demonstrating the resonant photoexcitation of highly charged oxygen.
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| 5. |
- Müller, Mark, et al.
(författare)
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Contrast-to-noise ratio optimization for a prototype phase-contrast computed tomography scanner.
- 2015
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Ingår i: Review of Scientific Instruments. - : AIP Publishing. - 1089-7623 .- 0034-6748. ; 86:12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In the field of biomedical X-ray imaging, novel techniques, such as phase-contrast and dark-field imaging, have the potential to enhance the contrast and provide complementary structural information about a specimen. In this paper, a first prototype of a preclinical X-ray phase-contrast CT scanner based on a Talbot-Lau interferometer is characterized. We present a study of the contrast-to-noise ratios for attenuation and phase-contrast images acquired with the prototype scanner. The shown results are based on a series of projection images and tomographic data sets of a plastic phantom in phase and attenuation-contrast recorded with varying acquisition settings. Subsequently, the signal and noise distribution of different regions in the phantom were determined. We present a novel method for estimation of contrast-to-noise ratios for projection images based on the cylindrical geometry of the phantom. Analytical functions, representing the expected signal in phase and attenuation-contrast for a circular object, are fitted to individual line profiles of the projection data. The free parameter of the fit function is used to estimate the contrast and the goodness of the fit is determined to assess the noise in the respective signal. The results depict the dependence of the contrast-to-noise ratios on the applied source voltages, the number of steps of the phase stepping routine, and the exposure times for an individual step. Moreover, the influence of the number of projection angles on the image quality of CT slices is investigated. Finally, the implications for future imaging purposes with the scanner are discussed.
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| 6. |
- Sjögren, Anders, et al.
(författare)
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High-repetition-rate, hard x-ray radiation from a laser-produced plasma: Photon yield and application considerations
- 2003
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Ingår i: Review of Scientific Instruments. - : AIP Publishing. - 1089-7623 .- 0034-6748. ; 74:4, s. 2300-2311
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present an experimental study of hard x rays produced in laser-produced plasmas. The laser used is a 1 kHz system, delivering 0.7 mJ for 25 fs onto a solid target. The x-ray spectrum was measured with calibrated germanium detectors, allowing a very good estimate of the absolute number of photons emitted from the plasma over a wide energy range; from 7 keV to 0.5 MeV. Assuming a bi-Maxwellian electron distribution with temperatures of 4.5 and 63 keV, theoretical calculations support the experimental findings. The imaging characteristics of the x-ray source were investigated experimentally employing image plates and theoretically based on the electron distribution. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.
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