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  • Volume 40, Issue 12

    • Volume 40, Issue 12

    Dec. 1, 2004
    FIGURE 1. Pharmaceutical tablets have essentially become highly engineered drug delivery systems. From left to right: Oros, an Alza-developed tablet used by Pfizer and others, retains its shape in gastric fluids and releases therapeutic doses through an osmotic aperture; inorganic or polymeric microspheres selectively release adsorbed drugs with selected target therapies at staggered concentrations and release rates to provide a complex therapeutic pattern in the bloodstream; a barrier-layer reservoir capsule refreshes the drug concentration in the upper chamber as the drug releases to maintain constant concentrations and provide long drug-level plateaus in the bloodstream; and a cored tablet sequentially delivers one drug at two distinct concentrations or delivers two different drugs back-to-back [7].
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    More content from Volume 40, Issue 12

    When the ultrathin metallic needle used in an atomic-force microscope is exposed to a focused beam of light, the radiation acts as a radio wave.
    Dec. 1, 2004
    Ti:sapphire laserClick here to enlarge imageThe TIS-SF-07 Ti:sapphire laser can serve as a multifunction source of single-frequency, tunable, CW radiation in applications such...
    Dec. 1, 2004
    If there ever has been a field to raise confusion and suspicion in the photonics industry, it is nanotechnology, in which marketing may ultimately pose a greater challenge than...
    Dec. 1, 2004
    Walk across a parking lot at noon, stand next to a window on a summer day, or sit next to a warm computer while writing an article.
    Dec. 1, 2004
    recent development in photonics-the advent of the large-scale photonic integrated circuit (PIC)-will fundamentally alter the assumptions driving telecom system design, and will...
    Dec. 1, 2004
    The U.S. Department of Energy has selected more than three dozen projects to receive some $75 million in funding for research that could speed up the development of hydrogen-fueled...
    Dec. 1, 2004
    Researchers at the University of Rochester Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE; Rochester, NY) have developed a remotely operated stand-alone streak camera with comprehensive...
    Dec. 1, 2004
    Digital imaging has become a major market driver, affecting almost everything from storage to communications according to Fred Welsh, recently retired from the Optoelectronics...
    Dec. 1, 2004
    Japanese court dismisses lawsuit against CorningA Japanese court dismissed a lawsuit filed by Furukawa Electric Co. (Tokyo, Japan) against Corning Cable Systems International,...
    Dec. 1, 2004
    Well-known techniques for detecting traces of explosives for security purposes include mass spectrometry and x-ray detection; an active area of research is the use of terahertz...
    Dec. 1, 2004
    Scientists at the University of Toronto (Toronto, Ont., Canada) and Carleton University (Ottawa, Ont., Canada) have demonstrated the first material that approaches fundamental...
    Dec. 1, 2004
    Researchers from Mississippi State University (MSU; Starkville, MS) believe they can diagnose and classify cancer in vivo by determining the intensity ratio of trace elements ...
    Dec. 1, 2004
    One variation of laser wakefield acceleration to form monoenergetic beams of electrons with low energy spread is to use forced wakefield acceleration by carefully controlling plasma density and laser pulse length. Laser pulses are focused onto the edge of a jet of helium gas and the energy spectrum of the electrons evolves over time. At time 1, some low-energy electrons are created by self-focusing of the laser pulse. The laser pulse front begins to strengthen due to the forced wakefield mechanism and at time 2 the plasma wavelength begins to increase to the point where transverse wave-breaking takes place. At time 3, plasma oscillations behind the initial one also break, resulting in multiple groups of accelerated electrons. As they travel further to time 4, the electron bunches dephase with respect to the plasma wave, causing energy spread. By controlling the laser pulse length and increasing the plasma density over a shorter region, the monoenergetic bunch of electrons can be isolated.
    Research teams in England, the United States, and France have independently achieved breakthroughs in plasma-based particle accelerators that could eventually lead toward realization...
    Dec. 1, 2004
    Optoelectronic devices owe their functionality to the combination of conducting, semiconducting, and insulating materials, and are typically manufactured in wafer-based processes...
    Dec. 1, 2004
    Optical fibers are useful in "down-hole" energy applications (which include oil, gas, and geothermal wells), serving either as data conduits or sensors.
    Dec. 1, 2004
    The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN; Geneva, Switzerland) celebrated its 50th anniversary this year, which also happened to be the 25th anniversary of the first...
    Dec. 1, 2004
    A subwavelength grating and variable reflector proposed by researchers at Sandia National Laboratories (Albuquerque, NM) last year has been fabricated and demonstrated as a laterally...
    Dec. 1, 2004
    In the sport of track cycling, medals are often decided by time differences of a small fraction of a second.
    Dec. 1, 2004
    A desire to optically detect molecules one at one time has led researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz), and at Brigham Young University (Provo,...
    Dec. 1, 2004
    Optics East 2004, sponsored by SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering, was held Oct.
    Dec. 1, 2004
    Novalux sets sights on new marketsContrary to rumors floating around the industry in late October, Novalux (Sunnyvale, CA)-founded in 1998 to develop semiconductor-laser products...
    Dec. 1, 2004
    Photonic A-to-D conversion directly samples multigigahertz signalsResearchers at HRL Laboratories (Los Angeles, CA) have combined photonic and indium phosphide heterojunction ...
    Dec. 1, 2004
    StockerYale to acquire Navitar for $25 millionStockerYale (Salem, NH) reached an agreement in principle to acquire Navitar (Rochester, NY) and its California subsidiary, Navitar...
    Dec. 1, 2004
    Astronomers have inferred the existence of more than 120 planets outside the solar system by observing Doppler shifts in stellar spectra induced by planets gravitationally perturbing...
    Dec. 1, 2004
    UCF gets $1.5 million grant for photonics labsA $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration will allow the University of Central Florida (UCF; Orlando...
    Dec. 1, 2004
    Major trends include high powers, coherent beam combination, ultrafast pulses, Q-switching, Raman lasers, and new materials.
    Dec. 1, 2004
    An innovative imaging platform has been developed that uses scanned beams of light and is in effect a versatile laser camera.
    Dec. 1, 2004
    Many microscopy applications can benefit from broadband deep-UV (DUV) imaging, some of which also require immersion, cover glass correction, or operation over a wide temperature...
    Dec. 1, 2004
    Microarrays are playing a critical role in genomic, proteomic, and drug-discovery research. Scientists are now integrating the illumination and detection processes on single chips...
    Dec. 1, 2004