PurposeTo describe early macular hole (MH) development in rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) after scleral buckling (SB) based on optical coherence tomography (OCT) findings.MethodsThe medical records and spectral domain OCT images of patients in whom MH developed after RRD repair were evaluated retrospectively.ResultsA postoperative MH was detected in five eyes that underwent SB during a 6-year period. All had fovea-off RRD without MH at the time of surgery. OCT showed partial loss of the inner retina with a preserved photoreceptor layer in early postoperative days. On average, 7 days (range,5 to 8 days) after surgery, outer retinal tissues disappeared, resulting in the full-thickness MH.ConclusionsSerial OCT findings revealed that partial-thickness lamellar holes progressed to full-thickness MHs, which were formed by the degeneration of the outer retina in eyes with preceding loss of the glial cone in the fovea.

Giant magnetoresistance (MR) and effective exchange coupling field (Hex) variations in bottom-type synthetic ferrimagnet based spin-valve (B–SV) films consisting of sputter-deposited Ta 5/seedlayer (NiFe, Cu, or Ru) 2/IrMn 9/CoFe (P1) 1.0–1.5/Ru 0.7/CoFe (P2) 3/Cu 2.8/CoFe 1.6/NiFe 3.2/Ta 5 (in nanometers) multilayers have been investigated. In particular, a focus was given on understanding the magnetotransport changes when the thickness difference between P2 and P1 layers, Δt(=tP2-tP1), was varied. These results were compared with those from similarly structured top spin-valve (T–SV) samples. When characterizing the subpeak profiles of MR transfer curves, we found that the subpeak shape of a B–SV with Δt=1.5 (=3.0–1.5) nm was different from that of a T–SV with the same Δt but was remarkably similar to that of a T–SV with Δt=2.0 (=3.0–1.0) nm. The degree of interfacial mixing (estimated to be in the order of 0.5 nm) during deposition at IrMn/CoFe (P1) appears higher for the B–SV: this resulted in an increase in effective Δt (or a decrease in effective P1 thickness). Hence, the effective thickness difference (Δteff) caused by intermixing has to be considered for designing B–SV structures. Annealing also induced changes in subpeak profiles, Hex, and MR ratios resulting from interdiffusion. In overall, a B–SV consisting of a NiFe seedlayer exhibited higher thermal stability than others.

Synthetic ferrimagnet-based spin-valve (SV) films comprising Ta 5/NiFe 2/IrMn 9/CoFe (P1) 1.5/Ru 0.7/CoFe (P2) 3/Cu 2.8/CoFe 1.6/NiFe 3.2/Ta 5 (in nanometers) were examined with an emphasis given on understanding the interface evolution of IrMn/CoFe (P1) upon postdeposition annealing. A 300 °C, 5 h annealing resulted in 12% and 42% decreases in effective pinning field and 29% and 53% decreases in MR ratio for the bottom (B) and top (T) SV, respectively. Because both structures exhibit different thermal degradation behaviors, we were curious to uncover the underlying causes by employing various analytical methods. The column sizes of the B–SV and T–SV were about 30 and 15 nm, respectively. No major difference in the (111) crystal texture was observed. We found that the main cause was due to the interlayer diffusion of atomic constituents such as Mn, most likely through grain boundaries and IrMn/CoFe interface, where the degree of the diffusion was considerably higher for the T–SV. Due to the surface free energy differences depending on the deposition sequence, two types of SV structures behaved differently upon exposure to annealing. The B–SV featuring less grain boundaries and nonabrupt IrMn/CoFe (P1) interface could effectively impede interlayer diffusion and, as a result, exhibited less thermal degradation in MR properties.