Room temperature mid-infrared fiber lasing beyond 5 µm in chalcogenide glass small-core step index fiber.

This Letter, to the best of our knowledge, reports mid-infrared fiber lasing beyond 5 µm at room temperature for the first time, Ce3+-doped, chalcogenide glass, step index fiber employed in-band pumping with a 4.15 µm quantum cascade laser. The lasing fiber is was 64 mm long, with a calculated numerical aperture of 0.48 at the lasing wavelengths. The core glass was Ge15As21Ga1Se63 atomic % (at. %), doped with 500 parts-per-million-by-weight Ce, with a 9 µm core diameter. The cladding glass was Ge21Sb10Se69 at. % with a 190 µm outer diameter. As pump power increases continuous wave lasing corresponding to the 2F7/2→2F5/2, transition in the Ce3+ ion occurs at 5.14 µm, 5.17 µm, and 5.28 µm.

Novel Striatal GABAergic Interneuron Populations Labeled in the 5HT3a(EGFP) Mouse.

Histological and morphological studies indicate that approximately 5% of striatal neurons are cholinergic or γ-aminobutyric acidergic (GABAergic) interneurons (gINs). However, the number of striatal neurons expressing known interneuron markers is too small to account for the entire interneuron population. We therefore studied the serotonin (5HT) receptor 3a-enhanced green fluorescent protein (5HT3a(EGFP)) mouse, in which we found that a large number of striatal gINs are labeled. Roughly 20% of 5HT3a(EGFP)-positive cells co-express parvalbumin and exhibit fast-spiking (FS) electrophysiological properties. However, the majority of labeled neurons do not overlap with known molecular interneuron markers. Intrinsic electrical properties reveal at least 2 distinct novel subtypes: a late-spiking (LS) neuropeptide-Y (NPY)-negative neurogliaform (NGF) interneuron, and a large heterogeneous population with several features resembling low-threshold-spiking (LTS) interneurons that do not express somatostatin, NPY, or neuronal nitric oxide synthase. Although the 5HT3a(EGFP) NGF and LTS-like interneurons have electrophysiological properties similar to previously described populations, they are pharmacologically distinct. In direct contrast to previously described NPY(+) LTS and NGF cells, LTS-like 5HT3a(EGFP) cells show robust responses to nicotine administration, while the 5HT3a(EGFP) NGF cell type shows little or no response. By constructing a molecular map of the overlap between these novel populations and existing interneuron populations, we are able to reconcile the morphological and molecular estimates of striatal interneuron numbers.

The oscine song system considered in the context of the avian brain: lessons learned from comparative neurobiology.

The oscine song system has emerged as one of the leading model systems for studying motor learning in vertebrates, combining an easily recorded behavior with a discrete neural substrate. That neural substrate seems to be distinct from other structures in the avian brain and thus is often studied in isolation. However, the song system is unlikely to have evolved ex nihilo, and should share some features with the parts of the avian brain from which it evolved. Identification of its evolutionary precursors should help us apply what we know about the song system to other vertebrate motor systems, and vice versa. Here, I review the homologies between parts of the avian and mammalian telencephala and explain where the song system nuclei reside in this context. The organization of the song system is then compared to other parts of the avian brain and the brains of nonoscine birds. Study of the nonoscine brain has revealed a 'general motor pathway' from caudolateral neostriatum (NCL) to intermediate archistriatum (Ai) that resembles the song system motor pathway in its anatomical organization. No part of this motor pathway projects directly to brainstem vocal or respiratory centers in nonoscines, but it does innervate a wide variety of motor and premotor neuron populations that mediate other behaviors. This general motor pathway may be accompanied by an 'anterior forebrain pathway', suggesting that the song system is simply a specialization of a part of this preexisting circuit. This hypothesis has implications for how accessory structures of the song system (e.g. HVc shelf, LMAN shell) are regarded, can help explain how the forebrain vocal control systems of three avian taxa (parrots, hummingbirds, and songbirds) could have evolved independently yet be so similar in organization, and makes testable predictions concerning the anatomy of the song system and the nonoscine brain.

Electrophysiological properties of avian basal ganglia neurons recorded in vitro.

The forebrains of mammals and birds appear quite different in their gross morphology, making it difficult to identify homologies between them and to assess how far they have diverged in organization. Nevertheless one set of forebrain structures, the basal ganglia, has been successfully compared in mammals and birds. Anatomical, histochemical, and molecular data have identified the avian homologues of the mammalian basal ganglia and indicate that they are very similar in organization, suggesting that they perform similar functions in the two classes. However, the physiological properties of the avian basal ganglia have not been studied, and these properties are critical for inferring functional similarity. We have used a zebra finch brain slice preparation to characterize the intrinsic physiological properties of neurons in the avian basal ganglia, particularly in the input structure of the basal ganglia, the striatum. We found that avian striatum contains a cell type that closely resembles the medium spiny neuron, the principal cell type of mammalian striatum. Avian striatum also contains a rare cell type that is very similar to an interneuron class found in mammalian striatum, the low-threshold spike cell. On the other hand, we found an aspiny, fast-firing cell type in avian striatum that is distinct from all known classes of mammalian striatal neuron. These neurons usually fired spontaneously at 10 Hz or more and were capable of sustained firing at very high rates when injected with depolarizing current. The existence of this cell type represents an important difference between avian striatum and mammalian dorsal striatum. Our data support the general idea that the organization and functional properties of the basal ganglia have been largely conserved in mammals and birds, but they imply that avian striatum is not identical to mammalian dorsal striatum.

Complementary 'bottom-up' and 'top-down' approaches to basal ganglia function.

Recently, two quite different approaches exemplifying 'bottom-up' and 'top-down' philosophies have shed new light on basal ganglia function. In vitro work using organotypic co-cultures has implicated the subthalamic nucleus (STN) and the external segment of the globus pallidus (GP(e)) as pacemakers for low-frequency bursting that is reminiscent of the activity produced in Parkinsonian tremor. A circuit essential for avian song learning has been identified as part of the basal ganglia with surprisingly well conserved cellular details; investigation of this system may help to address general issues of basal ganglia function.

Second-harmonic generation using gratings optically written by mode interference in poled optical fibers.

Second-order nonlinear susceptibility gratings are induced in optical fibers by mode interference of high-intensity blue light in the presence of an external dc electric poling field. As a result, efficient second-harmonic generation can be obtained for any infrared design wavelength.

Tunable holographic second-harmonic generators in high-birefringence optical fibers.

The formation of efficient holographic second-harmonic generators in high-birefringence phosphorus-doped germanosilicate fibers is reported. The influence of optical polarization on the nonlinear writing and read-out processes is explored. Fiber birefringence permits phase-matched second-harmonic conversion at wavelengths within +/-125 cm(-1) (+/-14 nm) of the writing wavelength (1.064 microm).