Striated composite layers of silica and hafnia offering advantageous properties for short-pulse optical coatings.

Monolayers containing subnanometer striations of silica and hafnia to form composite materials at varying ratios are explored as a method to develop high-index dielectric layers with increased laser-induced-damage thresholds (LIDTs). These layers can then be used in multilayer dielectric coatings for short-pulse, high-peak-power laser applications, particularly in regions of the highest electric-field intensity. Fabrication is achieved by means of exposure to two different evaporant vapor plumes, where local exposure to each plume is controlled via shielding to prevent simultaneous exposure. The LIDT of the resulting layers has been evaluated at 1053 nm with 600-fs pulses. The results indicate that such hafnia/silica layers exhibit LIDTs similar to silica for a refractive index of ≤1.65. These results suggest that the use of these layers in locations subjected to high electric-field intensity within multilayer dielectric coatings may significantly improve the LIDT, with this deposition process providing particular benefit for scaling to large-aperture, high-fluence components.

Large abdominal photopenic area on 99mTc-sestamibi myocardial perfusion imaging.

(99m)Tc-sestamibi myocardial perfusion imaging is frequently performed in conjunction with exercise or pharmacologic stress testing for evaluation of coronary heart disease. Interpretation of these studies includes systematic review of unprocessed rotating projectional images for evaluation of cardiac size as well as the presence of motion or attenuation artifacts. Occasionally, incidental noncardiac findings are detected on review of the projectional images. We report a case of a patient with a history of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease who was found to have a large abdominal photopenic area on the projectional images. The photopenic area corresponded to the location of large intraabdominal cysts on abdominal CT and was consistent with hepatic cysts associated with the patient's known polycystic kidney disease. We review the differential diagnosis of large abdominal photopenic regions identified on myocardial projectional images and the importance of routinely analyzing these images for incidental noncardiac findings.

Large-aperture plasma-assisted deposition of inertial confinement fusion laser coatings.

Plasma-assisted electron-beam evaporation leads to changes in the crystallinity, density, and stresses of thin films. A dual-source plasma system provides stress control of large-aperture, high-fluence coatings used in vacuum for substrates 1m in aperture.