New approach to the design of Schottky barrier diodes for THz mixers

Near-ideal GaAs Schottky barrier diodes especially designed for mixing applications in the THz frequency range are presented. A diode fabrication process for submicron diodes with near-ideal electrical and noise characteristics is described. This process is based on the electrolytic pulse etching of GaAs in combination with an in-situ platinum plating for the formation of the Schottky contacts. Schottky barrier diodes with a diameter of 1 micron fabricated by the process have already shown excellent results in a 650 GHz waveguide mixer at room temperature. A conversion loss of 7.5 dB and a mixer noise temperature of less than 2000 K have been obtained at an intermediate frequency of 4 GHz. The optimization of the diode structure and the technology was possible due to the development of a generalized Schottky barrier diode model which is valid also at high current densities. The common diode design and optimization is discussed on the basis of the classical theory. However, the conventional fomulas are valid only in a limited forward bias range corresponding to currents much smaller than the operating currents under submillimeter mixing conditions. The generalized new model takes into account not only the phenomena occurring at the junction such as current dependent recombination and drift/diffusion velocities, but also mobility and electron temperature variations in the undepleted epi-layer. Calculated diode I/V and noise characteristics are in excellent agreement with the measured values. Thus, the model offers the possibility of optimizing the diode structure and predicting the diode performance under mixing conditions at THz frequencies

QCD Improved b→sγb\to s\gamma Constraints on the Minimal Supergravity Model

Recent advances in the QCD corrections to $b\to s\gamma$ decay in the MSSM include i.) evaluation of the relevant operators, Wilson coefficients and anomalous dimension matrix elements for the various MSSM effective theories valid at scales beyond $Q =M_W$, ii.) calculations of most of the needed anomalous dimension matrix elements to next-to-leading order for scales m_b\alt Q , and iii.) calculations of ${\cal O}(\alpha_s)$ virtual and bremsstrahlung corrections to the $b\to s\gamma$ decay operators at scale $Q\sim m_b$. We assemble all these known results to gain an estimate of $B(b\to s\gamma )$ for the parameter space of the minimal supergravity model (mSUGRA). We find a much reduced scale dependence of our result compared to usual leading-log evaluations. Comparison with the latest CLEO results yields stringent constraints on parameter space. Much of mSUGRA parameter space is ruled out for $\mu <0$, especially for large $tan\beta$. We compare these results with other constraints from cosmology and non-standard vacua. Also, we compare with expectations for discovering mSUGRA at LEP2, the Tevatron and the CERN LHC.Comment: 14 pages REVTEX plus 7 PS figures; this version contains revised figures and text due to discovery of a bug in the program used to generate results for the previous version of this manuscrip

Theory of CP Violation

CP violation in K and B decays is reviewed in the Standard Model (SM) and beyond the SM. In K decays, one is seeking first evidence for CP violation in direct $K\to \pi\pi$ decays. This would not give a precise quantitative test for the present explanation of CP violation in terms of a phase in the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix. Such tests are provided by a variety of CP asymmetries in neutral and charged B decays. Certain features, characterizing CP violation beyond the standard model, are outlined in the B meson system.Comment: 13 pages, To appear in Proceedings of the Fifth Topical Seminar on The Irresistible Rise of the Standard Model, San Miniato al Todesco, Italy, April 21-25, 199

Mixing-induced CP Asymmetries in Radiative B Decays in and beyond the Standard Model

In the Standard Model (SM) the photon in radiative $\bar B^0$ and $\bar B_s$ decays is predominantly left-handed. Thus, mixing induced CP asymmetries in $b\to s\gamma$ and $b\to d\gamma$ are suppressed by $m_s/m_b$ and $m_d/m_b$, respectively, and are very small. In many extensions of the SM, such as the left-right symmetric model (LRSM), SU(2)xU(1) models with exotic fermions and SUSY, the amplitude of right-handed photons grows proportional to the virtual heavy fermion mass, which can lead to large asymmetries. As an example, in the LRSM, asymmetries larger than 50% are possible even when radiative decay rate measurements agree with SM predictions.Comment: 11 pages + 1 figure.p

Active nuclear import of single-stranded oligonucleotides and their complexes with non-karyophilic macromolecules

The objective of this investigation was to characterize intranuclear accumulation of oligonucleotides and their adducts with non-karyophilic compounds in cultured animal cells and thus to present a model system for nucleic acid-mediated nuclear import. In digitonin-permeabilized cells, nuclear uptake of 3'-FITC-labeled, single-stranded 25-mer oligodeoxyribonucleotides was independent of added cytosolic protein, largely energy-dependent, inhibitable by wheat germ agglutinin but not by N-ethylmaleimide, and a function of their base composition. When coupled to FITC-labeled streptavidin or streptavidin-bovine serum albumin conjugates, the oligonucleotides delivered the proteins to the nuclear interior with rates roughly proportional to their karyophilicity as free molecules. Transport activity was also demonstrated for single-stranded oligoribonucleotides. The transport was energy-dependent, inhibited by GMP-PNP and wheat germ agglutinin, but unaffected by N-ethylmaleimide. Nuclear import of oligo(dG)25/protein adducts needed 3 to 4 oligonucleotide signals per complex and the signal had to be at least 15 nucleotides long. Micro-injection experiments showed that the results obtained with digitonin-permeabilized cells are not artifacts of a quasi-intact cellular system. These data were confirmed by electron microscopy employing complexes of oligodeoxyribonucleotides with streptavidin-peroxidase-bovine serum albumin-1 nm gold. In permeabilized cells, the complexes docked to the cytoplasmic face of the nuclear pore complexes, were translocated through the central pore channel and accumulated in large quantities in the nuclear baskets before they were released into the nucleoplasm. These results demonstrate that nuclear uptake of oligonucleotides and their complexes is an active process mediated by nuclear pore complexes, which, at least regarding its cytoplasmic component, is different from the pathway requiring classical nuclear localization signals

Fluorescence Microscopic Comparison of the Binding of Phosphodiester and Phosphorothioate (Antisense) Oligodeoxyribonucleotides to Subcellular Structures, Including Intermediate Filaments, the Endoplasmic Reticulum, and the Nuclear Interio

To detect potential intracellular binding sites for antisense oligodeoxyribonucleotides (ODN), 3‵-fluorescencetagged phosphodiester (P) and phosphorothioate (S) analogs of a series of model and vimentin and actin antisense ODN were applied to digitonin-permeabilized fibroblast and epithelial PtK2 cells. Fluorescence microscopy revealed binding of the ODN to intermediate filaments (IFs) with a preference for cytokeratin IFs, cytoplasmic membranes (endoplasmic reticulum), and, above all, the nuclear interior. The affinity of the ODN for these cellular substructures was dependent on their base composition, and the S-ODN were by far superior to the corresponding P-ODN in binding activity. Fluorescence polarization measurements of the interaction of ODN with purified IF proteins in vitro confirmed the differential, high-affinity binding of S-ODN to IFs. In permeabilized cells, the ODN readily migrated into the nucleus where, at ambient temperature, preferentially the S-ODN gave rise to a multitude of large, irregular aggregates. Nuclear uptake of the ODN was considerably and differentially inhibited by wheat germ agglutinin. High-affinity S-ODN, but not P-ODN, additionally reacted with a structure presumably identical with the nuclear lamina. Simultaneously, they cause decompaction of chromatin, whereby the S-ODN aggregates appeared as compact inclusions in homogeneously dispersed chromatin. After microinjection of S-ODN into intact cells, these effects were not observed, although the nucleic acids rapidly moved into the nucleus and condensed into a large number of well-defined, spherical speckles or longitudinal rodlets. The methylphosphonate analogs of some of the ODN used exhibited only extremely low affinities for intracellular constituents. These results show that excess amounts of S-ODN saturate a host of both low-affinity and high-affinity binding sites on cellular substructures, whereas limited quantities as used for microinjection recognize only the high-affinity binding sites. The results support the notion that the nonsequence-specific, often toxic effects of antisense S-ODN result from their strong binding to cellular components and substructures involved in replicational, transcriptional, and translational processes. On the other hand, the association of the ODN with membranes and cytoskeletal and karyoskeletal elements may serve to optimize their sequence-specific interaction with their intended target sites and also increase their cellular retention potential. These cellular structures would thus fulfill a depot function