Mid-infrared or Raman spectroscopy together with multivariate data analysis provides a novel approach to clinical laboratory analysis, offering benefits due to its reagent-free nature, the speed of the analysis and the possibility of obtaining a variety of information from one single measurement. We compared mid-infrared and Raman spectra of the sera obtained from 247 blood donors. Partial least squares analysis of the vibrational spectra allowed for the quantification of total protein, cholesterol, high and low density lipoproteins, triglycerides, glucose, urea and uric acid. Glucose (mean concentration: 154 mg/dl) is frequently used as a benchmark for spectroscopic analysis and we achieved a root mean square error of prediction of 14.7 and 17.1 mg/dl for mid-infrared and Raman spectroscopy, respectively. Using the same sample set, comparable sample throughput, and identical mathematical quantification procedures Raman and mid-infrared spectroscopy of serum deliver similar accuracies for the quantification of the analytes under investigation. In our experiments vibrational spectroscopy-based quantification appears to be limited to accuracies in the 0.1 mmol/l range.

We have formed dense Z pinches from frozen deuterium fibers ranging in diameter from 80 to 125 ^m and at peak currents of up to 640 kA. The pinch remains stable for the entire 130 nsec of the current rise. This anomalously long stable period corresponds to about 100 magnetohydrodynamic growth times. As soon as the current peaks, i.e., when dl/dt =0, the pinch goes rapidly m =0 unstable and produces nearly 10 n neutrons in a 30-60-nsec-wide pulse. The instability occurs only at dl/dt =0 and is independent of either the current magnitude or the time to peak.PACS numbers: 52.55.EzAs an alternative to the conventional magnetic-confinement approach to fusion, where the plasma density is limited by the strength of an externally applied magnetic field, the linear Z pinch, which is confined solely by its self-field, can in principle confine a much higher-density plasma, and should thus require a correspondingly shorter containment time for net energy production. Because of this, as well as its attractive simplicity, the Z pinch was investigated extensively in the early days of controlled-fusion research. However, all the early experiments were plagued by seemingly intractable magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instabilities, 1 and the simple Z pinch has long since been abandoned as a candidate for a fusion system. This negative view may need revision in the light of new results from dense Z pinches formed from frozen deuterium fibers, through which rapidly rising currents are driven by means of modern lowimpedance pulse generators. This novel formation technique was first proposed in simultaneous articles by

Krypton-fluoride (KrF) lasers are of interest to laser fusion because they have both the large bandwidth capability (≳THz) desired for rapid beam smoothing and the short laser wavelength (1/4 μm) needed for good laser–target coupling. Nike is a recently completed 56-beam KrF laser and target facility at the Naval Research Laboratory. Because of its bandwidth of 1 THz FWHM (full width at half-maximum), Nike produces more uniform focal distributions than any other high-energy ultraviolet laser. Nike was designed to study the hydrodynamic instability of ablatively accelerated planar targets. First results show that Nike has spatially uniform ablation pressures (Δp/p<2%). Targets have been accelerated for distances sufficient to study hydrodynamic instability while maintaining good planarity. In this review we present the performance of the Nike laser in producing uniform illumination, and its performance in correspondingly uniform acceleration of targets.

We have developed an improved x-ray imaging system based on spherically curved crystals. It is designed and used for diagnostics of targets ablatively accelerated by the Nike KrF laser. A spherically curved quartz crystal (d = .?, R = mm) has been used to produce monochromatic backlit images with the He-like Si resonance line (1865 eV) as the source of radiation. The spatial resolution of the x-ray optical system is 1.7 mum in selected places and 2-3 mum over a larger area. Time-resolved backlit monochromatic images of polystyrene planar targets driven by the Nike facility have been obtained with a spatial resolution of 2.5 mum in selected places and 5 mum over the focal spot of the Nike laser.

The x-ray emission from plasmas created by the Naval Research Laboratory Nike KrF laser [Phys. Plasmas 3, 2098 (1996) ] was characterized using imaging and spectroscopic instruments. The laser wavelength was 1/4 μm, and the beams were smoothed by induced spatial incoherence (ISI). The targets were thin foils of CH, aluminum, titanium, and cobalt and were irradiated by laser energies in the range 100–1500 J. A multilayer mirror microscope operating at an energy of 95 eV recorded images of the plasma with a spatial resolution of 2 μm. The variation of the 95 eV emission across the 800 μm focal spot was 1.3% rms. Using a curved crystal imager operating in the 1–2 keV x-ray region, the density, temperature, and opacity of aluminum plasmas were determined with a spatial resolution of 10 μm perpendicular to the target surface. The spectral line ratios indicated that the aluminum plasmas were relatively dense, cool, and optically thick near the target surface. The absolute radiation flux was determined at 95 eV and in x-ray bandpasses covering the 1–8 keV region. The electron temperature inferred from the slope of the x-ray flux versus energy data in the 5–8 keV region was 900 eV for an incident laser energy of 200 J and an intensity of ≊1013 W/cm2.