69 research outputs found
Polarization effects in attosecond photoelectron spectroscopy
We study the influence of polarization effects in streaking by combined atto-
and femtosecond pulses. The polarization-induced terms alter the streaking
spectrum. The normal streaking spectrum, which maps to the vector potential of
the femtosecond pulse, is modified by a contribution following the field
instead. We show that polarization effects may lead to an apparent temporal
shift, that needs to be properly accounted for in the analysis. The effect may
be isolated and studied by angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy from
oriented polar molecules. We also show that polarization effects will lead to
an apparent temporal shift of 50 as between photoelectrons from a 2p and 1s
state in atomic hydrogen.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Magnetometry with entangled atomic samples
We present a theory for the estimation of a scalar or a vector magnetic field
by its influence on an ensemble of trapped spin polarized atoms. The atoms
interact off-resonantly with a continuous laser field, and the measurement of
the polarization rotation of the probe light, induced by the dispersive
atom-light coupling, leads to spin-squeezing of the atomic sample which enables
an estimate of the magnetic field which is more precise than that expected from
standard counting statistics. For polarized light and polarized atoms, a
description of the non-classical components of the collective spin angular
momentum for the atoms and the collective Stokes vectors of the light-field in
terms of effective gaussian position and momentum variables is practically
exact. The gaussian formalism describes the dynamics of the system very
effectively and accounts explicitly for the back-action on the atoms due to
measurement and for the estimate of the magnetic field. Multi-component
magnetic fields are estimated by the measurement of suitably chosen atomic
observables and precision and efficiency is gained by dividing the atomic gas
in two or more samples which are entangled by the dispersive atom-light
interaction.Comment: 8 pages, 11 figure
Geometric phases in open tripod systems
We first consider stimulated Raman adibatic passages (STIRAP) in a closed
four-level tripod system. In this case, the adiabatic eigenstates of the system
acquire real geometric phases. When the system is open and subject to
decoherence they acquire complex geometric phases that we determine by a Monte
Carlo wave function approach. We calculate the geometric phases and the state
evolution in the closed as well as in the open system cases and describe the
deviation between these in terms of the phases acquired. When the system is
closed, the adiabatic evolution implements a Hadamard gate. The open system
implements an imperfect gate and hence has a fidelity below unity. We express
this fidelity in terms of the acquired geometric phases.Comment: 10 pages 7 figure
Electrostatic attraction of nanoobjects - a versatile strategy towards mesostructured transition metal compounds
This highlight summarizes current challenges of mesostructuring and focuses on the scope and the potential of the ELAN – (electrostatic attraction of nanoobjects) strategy in mesostructuring of transition metal compounds. It discusses the limitations of this concept and highlights prominent examples. ELAN exploits the Coulomb attraction between inorganic precursors and polymeric templates in order to prevent macrophase separation. Essential requirements for ELAN are tailor-made, mesoscopic polyelectrolytic templates and charged molecular oligo-ions or stable colloids carrying a surface charge. The ELAN-strategy is highly reliable and opens the way to crystalline, mesoporous transition metal compounds with predefined polymorphism. It also provides the possibility to adjust wall chemistry and reactivity as well as the flexibility to synthesise different mesostructures (spheres, non-woven arrays or hexagonally ordered phases)
Orientation-dependent ionization yields from strong-field ionization of fixed-in-space linear and asymmetric top molecules
The yield of strong-field ionization, by a linearly polarized probe pulse, is
studied experimentally and theoretically, as a function of the relative
orientation between the laser field and the molecule. Experimentally, carbonyl
sulfide, benzonitrile and naphthalene molecules are aligned in one or three
dimensions before being singly ionized by a 30 fs laser pulse centered at 800
nm. Theoretically, we address the behaviour of these three molecules. We
consider the degree of alignment and orientation and model the angular
dependence of the total ionization yield by molecular tunneling theory
accounting for the Stark shift of the energy level of the ionizing orbital. For
naphthalene and benzonitrile the orientational dependence of the ionization
yield agrees well with the calculated results, in particular the observation
that ionization is maximized when the probe laser is polarized along the most
polarizable axis. For OCS the observation of maximum ionization yield when the
probe is perpendicular to the internuclear axis contrasts the theoretical
results.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure
Strong-field ionization of atoms and molecules: The two-term saddle point method
We derive an analytical formula for the ionization rate of neutral atoms and
molecules in a strong monochromatic field. Our model is based on the
strong-field approximation with transition amplitudes calculated by an extended
saddle point method. We show that the present two-term saddle point method
reproduces even complicated structures in angular resolved photo electron
spectra
Control and femtosecond time-resolved imaging of torsion in a chiral molecule
We study how the combination of long and short laser pulses, can be used to
induce torsion in an axially chiral biphenyl derivative
(3,5-difluoro-3',5'-dibromo-4'-cyanobiphenyl). A long, with respect to the
molecular rotational periods, elliptically polarized laser pulse produces 3D
alignment of the molecules, and a linearly polarized short pulse initiates
torsion about the stereogenic axis. The torsional motion is monitored in
real-time by measuring the dihedral angle using femtosecond time-resolved
Coulomb explosion imaging. Within the first 4 picoseconds, torsion occurs with
a period of 1.25 picoseconds and an amplitude of 3 degrees in excellent
agreement with theoretical calculations. At larger times the quantum states of
the molecules describing the torsional motion dephase and an almost isotropic
distribution of the dihedral angle is measured. We demonstrate an original
application of covariance analysis of two-dimensional ion images to reveal
strong correlations between specific ejected ionic fragments from Coulomb
explosion. This technique strengthens our interpretation of the experimental
data.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figure
Mesostructured ZnO/Au nanoparticle composites with enhanced photocatalytic activity
Ease of catalyst separation from reaction mixtures represents a significant advantage in heterogeneous photocatalytic wastewater treatment. However, the activity of the catalyst strongly depends on its surface-to-volume ratio. Here, we present an approach based on cylindrical polybutadiene-block-poly(2-vinylpyridine) polymer brushes as template, which can be simultaneously loaded with zinc oxide (ZnO) and gold (Au) nanoparticles. Pyrolytic template removal of the polymer yields in mesostructured ZnO/Au composites, showing higher efficiencies in the photocatalytic degradation of ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin (generic antibiotics present in clinical wastewater) as compared to neat mesostructured ZnO. Upscaling of the presented catalyst is straightforward promising high technical relevance
SosA inhibits cell division in Staphylococcus aureus in response to DNA damage.
Inhibition of cell division is critical for viability under DNA-damaging conditions. DNA damage induces the SOS response that in bacteria inhibits cell division while repairs are being made. In coccoids, such as the human pathogen, Staphylococcus aureus, this process remains poorly studied. Here, we identify SosA as the staphylococcal SOS-induced cell division inhibitor. Overproduction of SosA inhibits cell division, while sosA inactivation sensitizes cells to genotoxic stress. SosA is a small, predicted membrane protein with an extracellular C-terminal domain in which point mutation of residues that are conserved in staphylococci and major truncations abolished the inhibitory activity. In contrast, a minor truncation led to SosA accumulation and a strong cell division inhibitory activity, phenotypically similar to expression of wild-type SosA in a CtpA membrane protease mutant. This suggests that the extracellular C-terminus of SosA is required both for cell division inhibition and for turnover of the protein. Microscopy analysis revealed that SosA halts cell division and synchronizes the cell population at a point where division proteins such as FtsZ and EzrA are localized at midcell, and the septum formation is initiated but unable to progress to closure. Thus, our findings show that SosA is central in cell division regulation in staphylococci
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