Fluence Distribution Research Articles

Measuring fluence distribution of intense short laser based on the radiochromic effect.

This Letter demonstrates a novel, to the best of our knowledge, method to measure the fluence distribution of an intense short laser pulse based on the radiochromic effect. We discovered that an intense short laser pulse can induce the color reaction with a radiochromic film (RCF). Further, the net optical density of an irradiated RCF is proportional to the fluence of the incident laser pulse in a large range (${2 {-} 120}\;{{{\rm mJ}/{\rm cm}}^2}$). This method supports a large detection area up to near square-meter scale by splicing multi-pieces of RCFs (${8} \times 10\;{{\rm inch}^2}$ each). The spatial resolution reaches as high as 60 lines/mm. It offers a thin-film (${\sim}{100}\;{\unicode{x00B5}{\rm m}}$ thick), flexible, vacuum-compatible solution to intense short laser measurements, especially to laser facilities above petawatt, with beam sizes up to near square-meter scale, e.g., extreme light infrastructure.

Technical Note: validation of a material assignment method for a retrospective study of carbon-ion radiotherapy using Monte Carlo simulation.

We propose a two-step method to converse human tissue materials from patient computed tomography (CT) images, which is required in dose reconstructions for a retrospective study of carbon-ion radiotherapy (CIRT) using Monte Carlo (MC) simulation. The first step was to assign the standard tissues of the International Commission on Radiological Protection reference phantoms according to the CT-number. The second step was to determine the mass density of each material based on the relationship between CT-number and stopping power ratio (Hounsfield unit [HU]-SPR) registered in treatment planning system (TPS). Direct implementation of the well-calibrated HU-SPR curve allows the reproduction of previous clinical treatments recorded in TPS without uncertainty due to a mismatch of the CT scanner or scanning conditions, whereas MC simulation with realistic human tissue materials can fulfill the out-of-field dose, which was missing in the record. To validate our proposed method, depth-dose distributions in the homogenous and heterogeneous phantoms irradiated by a 400 MeV/u carbon beam with an 8 cm spread-out Bragg peak (SOBP) were computed by the MC simulation in combination with the proposed methods and compared with those of TPS. Good agreement of the depth-dose distributions between the TPS and MC simulation (within a 1% discrepancy in range) was obtained for different materials. In contrast, fluence distributions of secondary particles revealed the necessity of MC simulation using realistic human tissue. The proposed material assignment method will be used for a retrospective study using previous clinical data of CIRT at the National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS).

Modeling long-term distribution of fast and thermal neutron fluence in degraded concrete biological shielding walls

Since neutron radiation can deteriorate mechanical properties of the concrete materials, it’s critical to obtain accurate neutron radiation levels in concrete structures during their service live. A two-group neutron diffusion model for fast and thermal neutron transport is developed in this study which considers the kinetic energy of the neutron more realistically. Based on the cross-property correlation theory, the variation of transport properties of concrete can be estimated using the degradation of mechanical properties of concrete, then, the thermal and fast neutron radiation fields with two representative energy levels as well as the thermal field in a concrete bioshield can be calculated. Coupled radio-thermo analysis of a section of simplified concrete bioshield was performed to 80 years as a case study, and the results were discussed and compared with the results from the one-speed model. The degradation of concrete induced by neutron radiation and elevated temperature can lead to considerable increases of thermal and fast neutron flux/fluence in the concrete. The profiles of thermal neutron flux/fluence are very different from the profiles of fast neutron flux/fluence. A proper treatment of the neutron energy dependence is needed to predict long-term neutron radiation levels in concrete biological shields accurately.

Towards Transabdominal Functional Photoacoustic Imaging of the Placenta: Improvement in Imaging Depth Through Optimization of Light Delivery

Functional photoacoustic imaging of the placenta could provide an innovative tool to diagnose preeclampsia, monitor fetal growth restriction, and determine the developmental impacts of gestational diabetes. However, transabdominal photoacoustic imaging is limited in imaging depth due to the tissue’s scattering and absorption of light. The aim of this paper was to investigate the impact of geometry and wavelength on transabdominal light delivery. Our methods included the development of a multilayer model of the abdominal tissue and simulation of the light propagation using Monte Carlo methods. A bifurcated light source with varying incident angle of light, distance between light beams, and beam area was simulated to analyze the effect of light delivery geometry on the fluence distribution at depth. The impact of wavelength and the effects of variable thicknesses of adipose tissue and muscle were also studied. Our results showed that the beam area plays a major role in improving the delivery of light to deep tissue, in comparison to light incidence angle or distance between the bifurcated fibers. Longer wavelengths, with incident fluence at the maximum permissible exposure limit, also increases fluence within deeper tissue. We validated our simulations using a commercially available light delivery system and ex vivo human placental tissue. Additionally, we compared our optimized light delivery to a commercially available light delivery system, and conclude that our optimized geometry could improve imaging depth more than 1.6×, bringing the imaging depth to within the needed range for transabdominal imaging of the human placenta.

Evolution of self-organized nanograting from the pre-induced nanocrack-assisted plasma–laser coupling in sapphire

The period ( $$\wedge $$ ) of nanograting in sapphire varied from 320 to 398 nm with increasing the laser fluence, which is similar to the change trend of period of the near-subwavelength ripples previously observed on the material surface ( $$0.4<\wedge / \lambda <1$$ ) (Huang et al. in ACS Nano 3:4062, 2009). The result shows that the interference of the incident laser with the plasma could take place at the high-excited state of internal modified interface and leads to a spatial modulation of the local energy (fluence) distribution. The initial plasma–laser interference and the subsequent nanocrack-assisted plasma–laser coupling were used to explain the growth of nanograting what we have observed experimentally. Using a finite-difference time-domain method, we simulated the redistribution of laser fluence about the nanocracks, which derived from the pre-induced periodic refractive index changes in the focal volume after the acid etching. The experimental result and theoretical simulation can be in good agreement. In addition, we realized the erasing and rewriting of nanograting by using two beams of orthogonally polarized femtosecond laser pulses. This study can provide new proof for the physical mechanism of laser-induced nanograting and offer a reference for the fabrication of nanodevices in the substrate of sapphire.

Effect of wavefront rotation on the photoionization process by ultrafast laser spatiotemporal focusing

In this paper, we theoretically studied the propagation of the first-order spatiotemporal coupled ultrafast pulse in fused silica glass by using the Cartesian nonlinear Schrödinger equation coupled with the electron density rate equation. We found that wavefront rotation, one parameter of the shaped pulse, may play an integral role to adjust the asymmetrical modification under different initial coupling conditions. During the focusing process, the pulse wavefront generates or rotates the pulse front through angular dispersion, and this process directly causes the change of inclined direction of the pulse front tilt at the focal plane. The spatiotemporal coupling change could make a difference in the asymmetric distributions of intensity, fluence, and electron density at the plane of interaction, and further affect the photoionization process. Therefore, the research on the influence of wavefront rotation on the pulse front tilt under the initial pulse incidence condition helps us to understand the temporal and spatial evolution of ultrafast laser pulses. Based on our numerical simulation, the possible mechanism of nonreciprocal direct-writing phenomena is revisited by taking into account the effect of wavefront rotation.

Self-organized Criticality in Stellar Flares

Abstract Power-law size distributions are the hallmarks of nonlinear energy dissipation processes governed by self-organized criticality (SOC). Here we analyze 75 data sets of stellar flare size distributions, mostly obtained from the Extreme-Ultraviolet Explorer and the Kepler mission. We aim to answer the following questions for size distributions of stellar flares. (i) What are the values and uncertainties of power-law slopes? (ii) Do power-law slopes vary with time? (iii) Do power-law slopes depend on the stellar spectral type? (iv) Are they compatible with solar flares? (v) Are they consistent with SOC models? We find that the observed size distributions of stellar flare fluences (or energies) exhibit power-law slopes of α E = 2.09 ± 0.24 for optical data sets observed with Kepler. The observed power-law slopes do not show much time variability and do not depend on the stellar spectral type (M, K, G, F, A, giants). In solar flares, we find that background subtraction lowers the uncorrected value of α E = 2.20 ± 0.22 to α E = 1.57 ± 0.19. Furthermore, most of the stellar flares are temporally not resolved in low-cadence (30 minutes) Kepler data, which causes an additional bias. Taking these two biases into account, the stellar flare data sets are consistent with the theoretical prediction of SOC models, i.e., α E = 1.5. Thus, accurate power-law fits require automated detection of the inertial range and background subtraction, which can be modeled with the generalized Pareto distribution, finite-system size effects, and extreme event outliers.

Preliminary Monte Carlo simulation of non-laser light sources for photodynamic therapy

In photodynamic therapy (PDT), a photosensitizing agent is administered following irradiation on the target volume. The wavelength beam to activate the photosensitizer is ranging from 400 nm to 800 nm. Such wavelengths are generated by laser and non-laser light sources. However, the use of x-ray induced in photodynamic therapy has been investigated as a combination of radiotherapy and PDT. Moreover, x-rays are used for deeper penetration into tissue, extending the use of this therapy for tumours that would not be reachable by conventional PDT. In general, x-rays with keV to MeV energies are used for X-PDT. The aim of the present work is to investigate the use of monochromatic, low-energy beams for photodynamic therapy applications. Monte Carlo simulations are performed for distinct target volumes irradiated by a nonlaser (low-energy x-rays). Models of soft tissue and a mixture some photosensitizer plus soft tissue were considered. For each case, the energy fluence distribution at a given depth was calculated. A higher percentage difference of ∼20% was found when comparing the beam profile between soft tissue and the mixing Hpd, Photofrin, ALA, PpIX with soft tissue for low energy x-ray. Preliminary results showed that simulated x-ray beams could work for PDT.

A method for aligning a femtosecond multi-petawatt coherent beam combining system

This work proposes a method for aligning a femtosecond multi-petawatt coherent beam combining system under quasi-static conditions. This method does not depend on the details of the laser system, and only exploits the information of the fluence distribution in the far field as the feedback for the control of a deformable mirror and a reflective mirror in each optical path to optimize the system in order to achieve coherent combining efficiency as high as possible. The full workflow consists of 8 steps among which the nontrivial ones are demonstrated through numerical simulations. This work provides a framework to manage the large-scale coherent combining laser systems.

Characterization of Neutron and Gamma Beams at the Tangential Beam Port of TRIGA 2000 Reactor Using Monte Carlo Methods

Characterization neutron and gamma beams at the tangential beam port of TRIGA 2000 reactor was done in order to prepare the development of Prompt Gamma Neutron Activation Analysis (PGNAA) facility. Characterization was performed by simulation using Monte Carlo method with MCNPX and PHITS computer codes. The MCNPX code was used to simulate the neutron-gamma fluence and energy spectra in the reactor core from fission reactions. The PHITS code was used to simulate the distribution of the neutron-gamma fluence and energy spectra in the tangential beam port. The simulation was done by modeling the geometry and elemental composition of reactor material and radiation source model in the form of fission reaction in the reactor core. The results indicate that the tangential beam port provides better neutron spectrum and neutron-gamma fluence ratio for PGNAA. These results will be used to simulate the colimator design and neutron interaction with samples in PGNAA facility.

A structural analytic method on the phase space data of Linac 4 MV photons based on the real world.

It was given that the characteristics of the fluence distribution and the energy spectrum structure of 4MV photons on the Phase Space (PhSp) plane and a method to analyzing the characteristics. After the PhSp file of 4 MV photons was acquired by the method of Monte Carlo (MC) calculation, the photons recorded by PhSp file were grouped based on the energy bin, and it was analyzed that the spatial distribution and energy spectrum structure of the photons. The photons in each energy group were continually grouped to sub-files according to momentum bin, and the primary and scattered photons could be separated according to the character of the fluence distribution of the photons in the sub-files. The energy of 4 MV beam is a continuous spectrum. The energy constituent on a pixel at different distances from the center point is different, and the average energy on the center axis of the field is the highest; The photons with 0-1.0 MeV had 42.6% of all; that with energy more than 3.0 MeV had 11.7%; greater than 4 MeV, just 1.5%. The primary and scattered photons were easy collected according to the distribution characteristics of sub-groups. The work to acquire and analyze the PhSp file of the 4 MV beam is significant. 4 MV, 6 MV, 8 MV, 10 MV and 15 MV energy beams basically cover the beams of radiotherapy, and a database of the energy beams could be built for the MC related research of other scholars.

Constraining the fast radio burst properties using the joint distributions of dispersion measure and fluence of the events detected at Parkes, ASKAP, CHIME, and UTMOST

ABSTRACT The Parkes, ASKAP, CHIME, and UTMOST telescopes, which have all detected fast radio bursts (FRBs), each works at a different frequency and has a different detection criteria. Using simulations, we have combined the constraints from all four telescopes to identify an allowed range of model parameters $(\alpha , \overline{E}_{33})$ for the FRB source population. Here, α is the spectral index and $\overline{E}_{33}$ is the mean FRB energy in units of $10^{33} \, {\rm J}$ across a 2128–2848 MHz band in the FRB rest frame. We have considered several different FRB energy distributions, and also different scenarios for the scattering pulse broadening, the event rate density variation with z and the host dispersion measure (DM). We find that in all cases, the common allowed region includes the range −3.9 ≤ α ≤ −1.3 and $0.42\le \overline{E}_{33}\le 1$. In all case, large values α &amp;gt; 4 and $\overline{E}_{33} \gt 60$ are ruled out. Considering the allowed $(\alpha , \overline{E}_{33})$ parameter range, we predict that CHIME is unlikely to detect an FRB with extragalactic dispersion measure (DMEx) exceeding $3700\, {\rm pc\, cm}^{-3}$. A substantially larger DMEx in the large FRB sample anticipated from CHIME would falsify the assumptions of the present analysis. Our analysis is expected to yield tighter parameter constraints with the advent of more FRB data.

Influence of stress confinement, particle shielding and re-deposition on the ultrashort pulse laser ablation of metals revealed by ultrafast time-resolved experiments

The ablation rate in double-pulse material processing is strongly influenced by the pulse separation. For pulse separations exceeding 3 ps a significant decrease in ablation volume has been observed. This was attributed to three mechanisms: rarefaction wave interaction, shielding by ablation plume and material re-deposition. Here we present carefully designed double-pulse ablation experiments on three industrially relevant metals: stainless steel, aluminum and copper and interpret them based on ablation dynamics derived from ultrafast time-resolved pump-probe microscopy and ellipsometry. Adjustment of the fluence distribution within the double-pulse allows us to separate effects arising from rarefaction wave suppression and shielding/re-deposition. We found that the rarefaction wave contribution to the double-pulse ablation volume is about 25% for aluminum and stainless steel and about 40% for copper. A pronounced re-deposition was observed for stainless steel and aluminum, while for copper shielding by the ablation plume plays a dominant role. It was revealed that the ablation volume stays maximal, if the pulse energy is deposited within the mechanical relaxation time of (2–5)ps. According to our findings the ablation process exerts maximum efficiency and precision, when energy is coupled into the material before mechanical relaxation or after material surface equilibration.

Impact of real mirror profiles inside a split-and-delay unit on the spatial intensity profile in pump/probe experiments at the European XFEL.

For the High-Energy-Density (HED) beamline at the SASE2 undulator of theEuropean XFEL, a hard X-ray split-and-delay unit (SDU) has been built enabling time-resolved pump/probe experiments with photon energies between 5 keV and 24 keV. The optical layout of the SDU is based on geometrical wavefront splitting and multilayer Bragg mirrors. Maximum delays between Δτ= ±1 ps at 24 keV and Δτ = ±23 ps at 5 keV will be possible. Time-dependent wavefront propagation simulations were performed by means of theSynchrotron Radiation Workshop (SRW) software in order to investigate theimpact of the optical layout, including diffraction on the beam splitter and recombiner edges and the three-dimensional topography of all eight mirrors, on the spatio-temporal properties of the XFEL pulses. The radiation is generated from noise by the code FAST which simulates the self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) process. A fast Fourier transformation evaluation of the disturbed interference pattern yields for ideal mirror surfaces a coherence time of τc = 0.23 fs and deduces one of τc = 0.21 fs for the real mirrors, thus with an error of Δτ = 0.02 fs which is smaller than the deviation resulting from shot-to-shot fluctuations of SASE2 pulses. The wavefronts are focused by means of compound refractive lenses in order to achieve fluences of a few hundred mJ mm-2 within a spot width of 20 µm (FWHM) diameter. Coherence effects and optics imperfections increase the peak intensity between 200 and 400% for pulse delays within the coherence time. Additionally, the influence of two off-set mirrors in the HED beamline are discussed. Further, we show the fluence distribution for Δz = ±3 mm around the focal spot along the optical axis. The simulations show that the topographies of the mirrors of the SDU are good enough to support X-ray pump/X-ray probe experiments.

Recent Advances in the Laser Radiation Transport through the Head Tissues of Humans and Animals – A Review

Modern studies of the penetration of light into biological tissues is becoming very important in various medical applications. This is an important factor for determining the optical dose in many diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. The absorption and scattering properties of the tissue under study determine how deeply the light will penetrate into the tissue. However, these optical properties are highly dependent on the wavelength of the light source and tissue condition. This overview paper analyzes the transmission of light through different areas of human and animal head tissues, and the optimal laser wavelength and power density required to reach different parts of the brain are determined using lasers with different wavelengths by comparing the distribution of fluence, penetration depth and the mechanism of interaction between laser light and head tissues. The power variation in different regions of the head is presented, as estimated using Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. Data are analyzed for the absorption and scattering coefficients of the head tissue layers (scalp, skull, brain), calculated using integrating sphere measurements and inverse problem solving algorithms such as inverse MC (IMC) and adding-doubling (IAD). This study not only offered a quantitative comparison between wavelengths in terms of light transmission efficiency, but also anticipated the exciting opportunity for online, accurate and visible optimization of LLLT lighting parameters.

A three-dimensional modeling method for quantitative photoacoustic breast imaging with handheld probe

By providing complementary functional information, photoacoustic (PA) breast imaging based on the handheld ultrasound (US) probe has demonstrated promising potential for breast cancer diagnosis. However, the quantitative PA imaging primarily relies on the knowledge of the optical fluence distribution in the three-dimensional (3D) heterogeneous breast tissue. Previous studies based on the handheld system generally provided two-dimensional (2D) B-scan results, which contains limited anatomical information of the tissue and the lesion. This study proposed a method to perform 3D modeling of the photon transportation for dual-modality PA/US system based on the local 3D breast anatomical information by scanning US probe. Then the calculated optical fluence distribution can be used for PA imaging. Our phantom and clinical pilot study results demonstrated that this method has potential to improve the accuracy of the quantitative PA breast imaging, and it can also be used in other clinical implementations.

NICER View of the 2020 Burst Storm and Persistent Emission of SGR 1935+2154

Abstract We report on NICER observations of the magnetar SGR 1935+2154, covering its 2020 burst storm and long-term persistent emission evolution up to ∼90 days postoutburst. During the first 1120 s taken on April 28 00:40:58 UTC, we detect over 217 bursts, corresponding to a burst rate of &gt;0.2 bursts s−1. Three hours later, the rate was 0.008 bursts s−1, remaining at a comparatively low level thereafter. The T 90 burst duration distribution peaks at 840 ms; the distribution of waiting times to the next burst is fit with a lognormal with an average of 2.1 s. The 1–10 keV burst spectra are well fit by a blackbody, with an average temperature and area of kT = 1.7 keV and R 2 = 53 km2. The differential burst fluence distribution over ∼3 orders of magnitude is well modeled with a power-law form dN/dF ∝ F −1.5±0.1. The source persistent emission pulse profile is double-peaked hours after the burst storm. We find that the burst peak arrival times follow a uniform distribution in pulse phase, though the fast radio burst associated with the source aligns in phase with the brighter peak. We measure the source spin-down from heavy-cadence observations covering days 21–39 postoutburst, Hz s−1, a factor of 2.7 larger than the value measured after the 2014 outburst. Finally, the persistent emission flux and blackbody temperature decrease rapidly in the early stages of the outburst, reaching quiescence 40 days later, while the size of the emitting area remains unchanged.

Jitter-induced Max-of-N fluence distribution at the National Ignition Facility

Max-of-N fluence is the maximum peak fluence at a given location over N number of shots and is important for calculating fluence dependence for intrinsic laser-induced optic damage. Previously, we observed the Max-of-N effect on the National Ignition Facility and developed an ad-hoc model to calculate its effect. In this work, we attempt to understand the fundamental mechanism that causes this Max-of-N effect. We conclude that the primary fundamental mechanism responsible for this effect is dominated by the combination of fluence variations and pointing jitter of the laser. This discovery both strengthens our model for predicting optics longevity and gives us insight into how to mitigate this effect.

Useful island block geometries of a passive intensity modulator used for intensity-modulated bolus electron conformal therapy.

PurposeThis project determined the range of island block geometric configurations useful for the clinical utilization of intensity‐modulated bolus electron conformal therapy (IM‐BECT).MethodsMultiple half‐beam island block geometries were studied for seven electron energies 7‐20 MeV at 100 and 103 cm source‐to‐surface distance (SSD). We studied relative fluence distributions at 0.5 cm and 2.0 cm depths in water, resulting in 28 unique beam conditions. For each beam condition, we studied intensity reduction factor (IRF) values of 0.70, 0.75, 0.80, 0.85, 0.90, and 0.95, and hexagonal packing separations for the island blocks of 0.50, 0.75, 1.00, 1.25, and 1.50 cm, that is, 30 unique IM configurations and 840 unique beam‐IM combinations. A combination was deemed acceptable if the average intensity downstream of the intensity modulator agreed within 2% of that intended and the variation in fluence was less than ±2%.ResultsFor 100 cm SSD, and for 0.5 cm depth, results showed that beam energies above 13 MeV did not exhibit sufficient scatter to produce clinically acceptable fluence (intensity) distributions for all IRF values (0.70–0.95). In particular, 20 MeV fluence distributions were unacceptable for any values, and acceptable 16 MeV fluence distributions were limited to a minimum IRF of 0.85. For the 2.0 cm depth, beam energies up to and including 20 MeV had acceptable fluence distributions. For 103 cm SSD and for 0.5 cm and 2.0 cm depths, results showed that all beam energies (7–20 MeV) had clinically acceptable fluence distributions for all IRF values (0.70–0.95). In general, the more clinically likely 103 cm SSD had acceptable fluence distributions with larger separations (r), which allow larger block diameters.ConclusionThe geometric operating range of island block separations and IRF values (block diameters) producing clinically appropriate IM electron beams has been determined.

On the energy and redshift distributions of fast radio bursts

ABSTRACT Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are millisecond-duration radio transients from cosmological distances. Their isotropic energies follow a power-law distribution with a possible exponential cut-off, but their intrinsic redshift distribution, which contains information about the FRB sources, is not well understood. We attempt to constrain both distributions by means of Monte Carlo simulations and comparing the simulations results with the available FRB specific fluence distribution, dispersion measure (DM) distribution, and the estimated energy distribution data. Two redshift distribution models, one tracking the star formation history of the Universe and another tracking compact binary mergers, are tested. For the latter model, we consider three merger delay time-scale distribution (Gaussian, lognormal, and power-law) models. Two FRB samples detected by Parkes and the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder, respectively, are used to confront the simulation results. We confirm the ∼−1.8 power-law index for the energy distribution but the exponential cut-off energy of the distribution, if any, is unconstrained. For the best energy distribution model, none of the redshift distributions we considered are rejected by the data. A future, larger, uniform FRB sample (such as the one collected by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment) can provide better constraints on the intrinsic FRB redshift distribution using the methodology presented in this paper.