Search for: All records

Pump-probe microscopy is an emerging nonlinear imaging technique based on high repetition rate lasers and fast intensity modulation. Here, we present new methods for pump-probe microscopy that keep the beam intensity constant and instead modulate the inter-pulse time delay or the relative polarization. These techniques can improve image quality for samples that have poor heat dissipation or long-lived radiative states and can selectively address nonlinear interactions in the sample. We experimentally demonstrate this approach and point out the advantages over conventional intensity modulation.

We present a new imaging method for pump-probe microscopy that explores non-collinear excitation. This method (crossed-beam pump-probe microscopy, or CBPM) can significantly improve the axial resolution when imaging through low-NA lenses, providing an alternative way for depth-resolved, large field-of-view imaging. We performed a proof-of-concept demonstration, characterized CBPM’s resolution using different imaging lenses, and measured an enhanced axial resolution for certain types of low-NA lenses.

Perovskite oxides (ABO₃) have been widely recognized as a class of promising noble-metal–free electrocatalysts due to their unique compositional flexibility and structural stability. Surprisingly, investigation into their size-dependent electrocatalytic properties, in particular barium titanate (BaTiO₃), has been comparatively few and limited in scope. Herein, we report the scrutiny of size- and dopant-dependent oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activities of an array of judiciously designed pristine BaTiO₃and doped BaTiO₃(i.e., La- and Co-doped) nanoparticles (NPs). Specifically, a robust nanoreactor strategy, based on amphiphilic star-like diblock copolymers, is employed to synthesize a set of hydrophobic polymer-ligated uniform BaTiO₃NPs of different sizes (≤20 nm) and controlled compositions. Quite intriguingly, the ORR activities are found to progressively decrease with the increasing size of BaTiO₃NPs. Notably, La- and Co-doped BaTiO₃NPs display markedly improved ORR performance over the pristine counterpart. This can be attributed to the reduced limiting barrier imposed by the formation of -OOH species during ORR due to enhanced adsorption energy of intermediates and the possibly increased conductivity as a result of change in the electronic states as revealed by our density functional theory–based first-principles calculations. Going beyond BaTiO₃NPs, a variety of other ABO₃NPs with tunable sizes and compositions may be readily accessible by exploiting our amphiphilic star-like diblock copolymer nanoreactor strategy. They could in turn provide a unique platform for both fundamental and practical studies on a suite of physical properties (dielectric, piezoelectric, electrostrictive, catalytic, etc.) contingent upon their dimensions and compositions.