Extremely Dense Gamma-Ray Pulses in Electron Beam-Multifoil Collisions.

Sources of high-energy photons have important applications in almost all areas of research. However, the photon flux and intensity of existing sources is strongly limited for photon energies above a few hundred keV. Here we show that a high-current ultrarelativistic electron beam interacting with multiple submicrometer-thick conducting foils can undergo strong self-focusing accompanied by efficient emission of gamma-ray synchrotron photons. Physically, self-focusing and high-energy photon emission originate from the beam interaction with the near-field transition radiation accompanying the beam-foil collision. This near field radiation is of amplitude comparable with the beam self-field, and can be strong enough that a single emitted photon can carry away a significant fraction of the emitting electron energy. After beam collision with multiple foils, femtosecond collimated electron and photon beams with number density exceeding that of a solid are obtained. The relative simplicity, unique properties, and high efficiency of this gamma-ray source open up new opportunities for both applied and fundamental research including laserless investigations of strong-field QED processes with a single electron beam.

Polarized Laser-WakeField-Accelerated Kiloampere Electron Beams.

High-flux polarized particle beams are of critical importance for the investigation of spin-dependent processes, such as in searches of physics beyond the standard model, as well as for scrutinizing the structure of solids and surfaces in material science. Here we demonstrate that kiloampere polarized electron beams can be produced via laser-wakefield acceleration from a gas target. A simple theoretical model for determining the electron beam polarization is presented and supported with self-consistent three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations that incorporate the spin dynamics. By appropriately choosing the laser and gas parameters, we show that the depolarization of electrons induced by the laser-wakefield-acceleration process can be as low as 10%. Compared to currently available sources of polarized electron beams, the flux is increased by 4 orders of magnitude.

Measuring the impact of olive pomace enriched biscuits on the gut microbiota and its metabolic activity in mildly hypercholesterolaemic subjects.

PURPOSE: Olive pomace is a major waste product of olive oil production but remains rich in polyphenols and fibres. We measured the potential of an olive pomace-enriched biscuit formulation delivering 17.1 ± 4.01 mg/100 g of hydroxytyrosol and its derivatives, to modulate the composition and metabolic activity of the human gut microbiota. METHODS: In a double-blind, controlled parallel dietary intervention 62 otherwise healthy hypercholesterolemic (total plasma cholesterol 180-240 mg/dl) subjects were randomly assigned to eat 90 g of olive pomace-enriched biscuit (olive-enriched product, OEP) or an isoenergetic control (CTRL) for 8 weeks. Fasted blood samples, 24-h urine and faecal samples were collected before and after dietary intervention for measurement of microbiota, metabolites and clinical parameters. RESULTS: Consumption of OEP biscuits did not impact on the diversity of the faecal microbiota and there was no statistically significant effect on CVD markers. A trend towards reduced oxidized LDL cholesterol following OEP ingestion was observed. At the genus level lactobacilli and Ruminococcus were reduced in OEP compared to CTRL biscuits. A trend towards increased bifidobacteria abundance was observed after OEP ingestion in 16S rRNA profiles, by fluorescent in situ hybridization and by qPCR. Targeted LC-MS revealed significant increases phenolic acid concentrations in 24-h urine following OEP ingestion and 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC) and homovanillic acid, derivatives of hydroxytyrosol, were elevated in blood. A sex effect was apparent in urine small phenolic acid concentrations, and this sex effect was mirrored by statistically significant differences in relative abundances of faecal bacteria between men and women. CONCLUSION: Ingestion of OEP biscuits led to a significant increase in the metabolic output of the gut microbiota with an apparent sex effect possibly linked to differences in microbiota makeup. Increased levels of homovanillic acid and DOPAC, thought to be involved in reducing oxidative LDL cholesterol, were observed upon OEP ingestion. However, OEP did not induce statistically significant changes in either ox-LDL or urinary isoprostane in this study.

Laser-pulse-shape control of seeded QED cascades.

QED cascades are complex avalanche processes of hard photon emission and electron-positron pair creation driven by ultrastrong electromagnetic fields. They play a fundamental role in astrophysical environments such as a pulsars' magnetosphere, rendering an earth-based implementation with intense lasers attractive. In the literature, QED cascades were also predicted to limit the attainable intensity in a set-up of colliding laser beams in a tenuous gas such as the residual gas of a vacuum chamber, therefore severely hindering experiments at extreme field intensities. Here, we demonstrate that the onset of QED cascades may be either prevented even at intensities around 1026 W/cm2 with tightly focused laser pulses and low-Z gases, or facilitated at intensities below 1024 W/cm2 with enlarged laser focal areas or high-Z gases. These findings pave the way for the control of novel experiments such as the generation of pure electron-positron-photon plasmas from laser energy, and for probing QED in the extreme-intensity regime where the quantum vacuum becomes unstable.

Electron dynamics controlled via self-interaction.

The dynamics of an electron in a strong laser field can be significantly altered by radiation reaction. This usually results in a strongly damped motion, with the electron losing a large fraction of its initial energy. Here we show that the electron dynamics in a bichromatic laser pulse can be indirectly controlled by a comparatively small radiation reaction force through its interplay with the Lorentz force. By changing the relative phase between the two frequency components of the bichromatic laser field, an ultrarelativistic electron bunch colliding head-on with the laser pulse can be deflected in a controlled way, with the deflection angle being independent of the initial electron energy. The effect is predicted to be observable with laser powers and intensities close to those of current state-of-the-art petawatt laser systems.

Speak-eR: an audible web-based medical record for emergency patients.

Emergency conditions can inhibit the use of clinical data, even when it has been professionally collected and structured. Our aim is to improve the assessment of patients' medical histories in emergency situations. Under emergency conditions, when it may be impractical for health care providers to interact with a visual display of patient data, a "speaking" medical record may be useful. We are investigating the use of a voice synthesizer in conjunction with MyAngelWeb, an Italian web-based medical record service. Only the textual subset of patient medical records was considered and restructured according to the needs imposed by voice communication. The quality of the received messages was tested. Some quantitative features, including the number of words and time durations, were considered together with other subjective features, including intelligibility of single words and overall significance of the voice messages. Provided that the linguistic architecture of a medical records' text is arranged to minimize the number of choices presented to the user, and phrases are kept short with few acronyms, health care providers can satisfactorily interact with the service.. Audible medical record delivery may be considered as an effective enhancement to those datasets needed in emergencies.