Advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD) may lead to geographic atrophy or fibrovascular scar at macular, dysfunctional retinal microenvironment, and cause profound visual loss. Recent clinical trials have implied the potential application of pluripotent cell-differentiated retinal pigment epithelial cells (dRPEs) and membranous scaffolds implantation in repairing the degenerated retina in AMD. However, the efficacy of implanted membrane in immobilization and supporting the viability and functions of dRPEs, as well as maintaining the retinal microenvironment is still unclear. Herein we generated a biomimetic scaffold mimicking subretinal Bruch's basement from plasma modified polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) sheet with laminin coating (PDMS-PmL), and investigated its potential functions to provide a subretinal environment for dRPE-monolayer grown on it. Firstly, compared to non-modified PDMS, PDMS-PmL enhanced the attachment, proliferation, polarization, and maturation of dRPEs. Second, PDMS-PmL increased the polarized tight junction, PEDF secretion, melanosome pigment deposit, and phagocytotic-ability of dRPEs. Third, PDMS-PmL was able to carry a dRPEs/photoreceptor-precursors multilayer retina tissue. Finally, the in vivo subretinal implantation of PDMS-PmL in porcine eyes showed well-biocompatibility up to 2-year follow-up. Notably, multifocal ERGs at 2-year follow-up revealed well preservation of macular function in PDMS-PmL, but not PDMS, transplanted porcine eyes. Trophic PEDF secretion of macular retina in PDMS-PmL group was also maintained to preserve retinal microenvironment in PDMS-PmL eyes at 2 year. Taken together, these data indicated that PDMS-PmL is able to sustain the physiological morphology and functions of polarized RPE monolayer, suggesting its potential of rescuing macular degeneration in vivo.

We report the generation of tunable femtosecond pulses from 380nm to 465nm near the degenerate point of a 405-nm pumped type-I BBO noncollinearly phase-matched optical parametric amplifier (NOPA). The tunable UV/blue radiation is obtained from sum frequency generation (SFG) between the OPA output and the residual fundamental beam at 810-nm and cascaded second harmonic generation (SHG) of OPA. With a fixed seeding angle, the generated SFG and SHG covers from 385 nm to 465-nm. With a pumping energy of 75 J at 405 nm, the optical conversion efficiency from the pump to the tunable SFG is more than 5% and the efficiency of SHG of the OPA is about 2%.

The first demonstration on the bendable substrateless GaN LED on a-SiC buffer transferring to the dielectric and metallic substrates.

We report a new design of single-shot cross-correlation frequency-resolved optical gating (XFROG) with sub femto-joule sensitivity for complete field characterization of ultrashort optical pulse using a 400- nm-pumped type-I noncollinear optical parametric amplifier. Optical parametric gain as high as 10(8) with 0.8-0.9 femto-joules sensitivity had been demonstrated with an un-cooled CCD in this study. The experimental FROG traces have been successfully retrieved with an error no worse than 0.0014. The device had been to be useful for studying the generation mechanism of white-light supercontinuum (WLS).

A topological insulator (TI) is a quantum material in a new class with attractive properties for physical and technological applications. Here we derive the electronic structure of highly crystalline Sb2Te2Se single crystals studied with angle-resolved photoemission spectra. The result of band mapping reveals that the Sb2Te2Se compound behaves as a p-type semiconductor and has an isolated Dirac cone of a topological surface state, which is highly favored for spintronic and thermoelectric devices because of the dissipation-less surface state and the decreased scattering from bulk bands. More importantly, the topological surface state and doping level in Sb2Te2Se are difficult to alter for a cleaved surface exposed to air; the robustness of the topological surface state defined in our data indicates that this Sb2Te2Se compound has a great potential for future atmospheric applications.