Giuseppe Coppola

By Maurizio Casalino, Luigi Sirleto, Mario Iodice and Giuseppe Coppola

Part of the book: Photodetectors

By Maria Antonietta Ferrara, Gaetano Bianco, Fabio Borbone, Roberto Centore, Valerio Striano and Giuseppe Coppola

In this chapter, we investigate the possibility to realize a holographic solar concentrator by using a new photopolymeric material as recording medium. Therefore, two different configurations of holographic lenses (lenses with spherical and cylindrical symmetry) are described in terms of both recording process and optical response characterization. Finally, we propose the possibility to use this new photopolymer to realize holographic solar concentrator for space applications.

Part of the book: Holographic Materials and Optical Systems

By Giuseppe Coppola, Maria Antonietta Ferrara, Giuseppe Di Caprio, Gianfranco Coppola and Brian Dale

The morphology, the motility, and the biochemical structure of the spermatozoon have often been correlated with the outcome of in vitro fertilization and have been shown to be the sole parameters of the semen analysis in predicting the success of intracytoplasmic sperm injection and intracytoplasmic morphologically selected sperm injection. In this context, digital holography has demonstrated to be an attractive technique to perform a label-free, noninvasive, and high-resolution technique for characterization of live spermatozoa. The aim of this chapter is to summarize the recent achievements of digital holography in order to show its high potentiality as an efficient method for healthy and fertile sperm cell selection, without injuring the specimen and to explore new possible applications of digital holography in this field.

Part of the book: Holographic Materials and Optical Systems

By Annalisa De Angelis, Maria Antonietta Ferrara, Giuseppe Coppola and Anna Chiara De Luca

Current in vitro fertilization (IVF) techniques require a severe selection of sperm, generally based on concentration, morphology, motility, and DNA integrity. Since routinely separation methods may damage the viability of the sperm cell, there is a growing interest in providing a method for noninvasively analyzing spermatozoa taking into account all those parameters. This chapter first reviews the state-of-the-art of label-free sperm cell imaging for IVF, highlighting the limitations of the used techniques. Then, our innovative approach combining Raman spectroscopy and digital holography will be described and its advantages detailed. These include the ability to perform a simultaneous and correlative morphological and biochemical analysis of sperm cells, without labeling, in a fast and reliable way. Finally, the difficulty in reaching clinical use will be discussed, as well as the possible solutions offered by new technological improvements.

Part of the book: Spermatozoa