Nonlinear spectroscopic studies using sum- and difference-frequency generation

A detailed study is presented of resonant sum- and difference-frequency generation for the mixed-crystal system azulene in naphthalene. The S0 -> S1, S0 -> S2 and S1 -> S2 transitions of azulene provide the 3 needed dipoles for the existence of c(2), and a relatively small static elec. field was used to break the interference between the waves generated in the 2 crystal sublattices. Second-order nonlinear processes can occur sep. in each sublattice. All the theor. predicted resonances, except the DICE effect, were obsd. The generated field intensity satd. at higher fields, and in certain circumstances exhibited hysteresis as a function of the d.c. field strength. The line-narrowing capabilities of these new forms of spectroscopy were explored

Absorption and emission spectroscopies of homogeneous and inhomogeneously broadened multilevel systems in strong light fields

A method is introduced to calc., for a model set of mol. levels, the spectral line shapes expected for a variety of conventional laser expts. including absorption, hole burning, fluorescence line narrowing, and Raman scattering. The method allows the incident laser field to have arbitrary intensity. Furthermore, the effects of model gaussian or lorenzian inhomogeneous distributions are readily incorporated. Earlier results for a 2-level system are easily obtained and new results are presented for inhomogeneously broadened 2- and 3-level systems, and for the effects of pure dephasing on the strong field spectra. The differences between fluorescence and Raman in strong fields, and the effect of strong fields on the spontaneous emission of inhomogeneously broadened transitions were described. Some predictions are made regarding line narrowing expts. in the strong-field limit

Stability of Impurities with Coulomb Potential in Graphene with Homogeneous Magnetic Field

Given a 2-dimensional no-pair Weyl operator with a point nucleus of charge Z, we show that a homogeneous magnetic field does not lower the critical charge beyond which it collapses.Comment: J. Math. Phys. (in press

Brain fog in neuropathic postural tachycardia syndrome may be associated with autonomic hyperarousal and improves after water drinking.

Brain fog is a common and highly disturbing symptom for patients with neuropathic postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS). Cognitive deficits have been measured exclusively in the upright body position and mainly comprised impairments of higher cognitive functions. The cause of brain fog is still unclear today. This study aimed to investigate whether increased autonomic activation might be an underlying mechanism for the occurrence of brain fog in neuropathic POTS. We therefore investigated cognitive function in patients with neuropathic POTS and a healthy control group depending on body position and in relation to catecholamine release as a sensitive indicator of acute stress. The second aim was to test the effect of water intake on cardiovascular regulation, orthostatic symptoms, cognitive function and catecholamine release. Thirteen patients with neuropathic POTS and 15 healthy control subjects were included. All participants completed a total of four rounds of cognitive testing: two before and two after the intake of 500 ml still water, each first in the supine position and then during head-up tilt. At the end of each cognitive test, a blood sample was collected for determination of plasma catecholamines. After each head-up tilt phase participants were asked to rate their current symptoms on a visual analogue scale. Working memory performance in the upright body position was impaired in patients, which was associated with self-reported symptom severity. Patients had elevated plasma norepinephrine independent of body position and water intake that increased excessively in the upright body position. The excessive increase of plasma norepinephrine was related to heart rate and symptom severity. Water intake in patients decreased norepinephrine concentrations and heart rate, and improved symptoms as well as cognitive performance. Brain fog and symptom severity in neuropathic POTS are paralleled by an excessive norepinephrine secretion. Bolus water drinking down-regulates norepinephrine secretion and improves general symptom severity including brain fog

Spin polarization of the L-gap surface states on Au(111)

The electron spin polarization (ESP) of the L-gap surface states on Au(111) is investigated theoretically by means of first-principles electronic-structure and photoemission calculations. The surface states show a large spin-orbit induced in-plane ESP which is perpendicular to the in-plane wavevector, in close analogy to a two-dimensional electron gas with Rashba spin-orbit interaction. The surface corrugation leads to a small ESP component normal to the surface, being not reported so far. The surface-states ESP can be probed qualitatively and quantitatively by spin- and angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy, provided that the initial-state ESP is retained in the photoemission process and not obscured by spin-orbit induced polarization effects. Relativistic photoemission calculations provide detailed information on what photoemission set-ups allow to conclude from the photoelectron ESP on that of the surface states.Comment: 22 pages with 8 figure

Two-Dimensional Infrared Spectroscopy of Antiparallel β-Sheet Secondary Structure

We investigate the sensitivity of femtosecond Fourier transform two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy to protein secondary structure with a study of antiparallel β-sheets. The results show that 2D IR spectroscopy is more sensitive to structural differences between proteins than traditional infrared spectroscopy, providing an observable that allows comparison to quantitative models of protein vibrational spectroscopy. 2D IR correlation spectra of the amide I region of poly-L-lysine, concanavalin A, ribonuclease A, and lysozyme show cross-peaks between the IR-active transitions that are characteristic of amide I couplings for polypeptides in antiparallel hydrogen-bonding registry. For poly-L-lysine, the 2D IR spectrum contains the eight-peak structure expected for two dominant vibrations of an extended, ordered antiparallel β-sheet. In the proteins with antiparallel β-sheets, interference effects between the diagonal and cross-peaks arising from the sheets, combined with diagonally elongated resonances from additional amide transitions, lead to a characteristic “Z”-shaped pattern for the amide I region in the 2D IR spectrum. We discuss in detail how the number of strands in the sheet, the local configurational disorder in the sheet, the delocalization of the vibrational excitation, and the angle between transition dipole moments affect the position, splitting, amplitude, and line shape of the cross-peaks and diagonal peaks.