2,115 research outputs found
A [4Fe-4S]-Fe(CO)(CN)-L-cysteine intermediate is the first organometallic precursor in [FeFe] hydrogenase H-cluster bioassembly.
Biosynthesis of the [FeFe] hydrogenase active site (the 'H-cluster') requires the interplay of multiple proteins and small molecules. Among them, the radical S-adenosylmethionine enzyme HydG, a tyrosine lyase, has been proposed to generate a complex that contains an Fe(CO)2(CN) moiety that is eventually incorporated into the H-cluster. Here we describe the characterization of an intermediate in the HydG reaction: a [4Fe-4S][(Cys)Fe(CO)(CN)] species, 'Complex A', in which a CO, a CN- and a cysteine (Cys) molecule bind to the unique 'dangler' Fe site of the auxiliary [5Fe-4S] cluster of HydG. The identification of this intermediate-the first organometallic precursor to the H-cluster-validates the previously hypothesized HydG reaction cycle and provides a basis for elucidating the biosynthetic origin of other moieties of the H-cluster
Business modeling and requirements in RUP: a dependency analysis of activities, tasks and work products
Most artifacts developed during the requirements engineering process relate themselves in different ways. In order to understand in detail how they affect each other during the software development process, it is relevant to iden-tify their interdependencies. This paper presents a systematization of the existing interdependencies between the different elements of the Rational Unified Process (RUP) in the Business Modeling and Requirements disciplines. This work, which highlights knowledge about the different interdependencies and traceability of RUP elements, is useful to avoid unconscious decisions during software the de-velopment process and also, to detect potential problems due to the violation of the existing interdependencies.This work has been supported by COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043 and FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2013.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Measurement of Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit magnetic fields
Spin-orbit coupling is a manifestation of special relativity. In the
reference frame of a moving electron, electric fields transform into magnetic
fields, which interact with the electron spin and lift the degeneracy of
spin-up and spin-down states. In solid-state systems, the resulting spin-orbit
fields are referred to as Dresselhaus or Rashba fields, depending on whether
the electric fields originate from bulk or structure inversion asymmetry,
respectively. Yet, it remains a challenge to determine the absolute value of
both contributions in a single sample. Here we show that both fields can be
measured by optically monitoring the angular dependence of the electrons' spin
precession on their direction of movement with respect to the crystal lattice.
Furthermore, we demonstrate spin resonance induced by the spin-orbit fields. We
apply our method to GaAs/InGaAs quantum-well electrons, but it can be used
universally to characterise spin-orbit interactions in semiconductors,
facilitating the design of spintronic devices
Spin- and energy relaxation of hot electrons at GaAs surfaces
The mechanisms for spin relaxation in semiconductors are reviewed, and the
mechanism prevalent in p-doped semiconductors, namely spin relaxation due to
the electron-hole exchange interaction, is presented in some depth. It is shown
that the solution of Boltzmann-type kinetic equations allows one to obtain
quantitative results for spin relaxation in semiconductors that go beyond the
original Bir-Aronov-Pikus relaxation-rate approximation. Experimental results
using surface sensitive two-photon photoemission techniques show that the spin
relaxation-time of electrons in p-doped GaAs at a semiconductor/metal surface
is several times longer than the corresponding bulk spin relaxation-times. A
theoretical explanation of these results in terms of the reduced density of
holes in the band-bending region at the surface is presented.Comment: 33 pages, 12 figures; earlier submission replaced by corrected and
expanded version; eps figures now included in the tex
Non-Abelian statistics and topological quantum information processing in 1D wire networks
Topological quantum computation provides an elegant way around decoherence,
as one encodes quantum information in a non-local fashion that the environment
finds difficult to corrupt. Here we establish that one of the key
operations---braiding of non-Abelian anyons---can be implemented in
one-dimensional semiconductor wire networks. Previous work [Lutchyn et al.,
arXiv:1002.4033 and Oreg et al., arXiv:1003.1145] provided a recipe for driving
semiconducting wires into a topological phase supporting long-sought particles
known as Majorana fermions that can store topologically protected quantum
information. Majorana fermions in this setting can be transported, created, and
fused by applying locally tunable gates to the wire. More importantly, we show
that networks of such wires allow braiding of Majorana fermions and that they
exhibit non-Abelian statistics like vortices in a p+ip superconductor. We
propose experimental setups that enable the Majorana fusion rules to be probed,
along with networks that allow for efficient exchange of arbitrary numbers of
Majorana fermions. This work paves a new path forward in topological quantum
computation that benefits from physical transparency and experimental realism.Comment: 6 pages + 17 pages of Supp. Mat.; 10 figures. Supp. Mat. has doubled
in size to establish results more rigorously; many other improvements as wel
Ultracold dense gas of deeply bound heteronuclear molecules
Recently, the quest for an ultracold and dense ensemble of polar molecules
has attracted strong interest. Polar molecules have bright prospects for novel
quantum gases with long-range and anisotropic interactions, for quantum
information science, and for precision measurements. However, high-density
clouds of ultracold polar molecules have so far not been produced. Here, we
report a key step towards this goal. Starting from an ultracold dense gas of
heteronuclear 40K-87Rb Feshbach molecules with typical binding energies of a
few hundred kHz and a negligible dipole moment, we coherently transfer these
molecules into a vibrational level of the ground-state molecular potential
bound by >10 GHz. We thereby increase the binding energy and the expected
dipole moment of the 40K-87Rb molecules by more than four orders of magnitude
in a single transfer step. Starting with a single initial state prepared with
Feshbach association, we achieve a transfer efficiency of 84%. While dipolar
effects are not yet observable, the presented technique can be extended to
access much more deeply bound vibrational levels and ultimately those
exhibiting a significant dipole moment. The preparation of an ultracold quantum
gas of polar molecules might therefore come within experimental reach.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
Spin-injection Hall effect in a planar photovoltaic cell
Successful incorporation of the spin degree of freedom in semiconductor
technology requires the development of a new paradigm allowing for a scalable,
non-destructive electrical detection of the spin-polarization of injected
charge carriers as they propagate along the semiconducting channel. In this
paper we report the observation of a spin-injection Hall effect (SIHE) which
exploits the quantum-relativistic nature of spin-charge transport and which
meets all these key requirements on the spin detection. The two-dimensional
electron-hole gas photo-voltaic cell we designed to observe the SIHE allows us
to develop a quantitative microscopic theory of the phenomenon and to
demonstrate its direct application in optoelectronics. We report an
experimental realization of a non-magnetic spin-photovoltaic effect via the
SIHE, rendering our device an electrical polarimeter which directly converts
the degree of circular polarization of light to a voltage signal.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure
Gliosarcoma: a study of four cases
Gliosarcomas (GS) are highly malignant and rare tumors of the central nervous system with a poor prognosis. We report here on four patients with GS, the median survival for whom was 9.25 months. Prognosis of GS remains poor, and a multidisciplinary approach (surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy) seems to be associated with slightly more prolonged survival times
Spectroscopic investigations of a semi-synthetic [FeFe] hydrogenase with propane di-selenol as bridging ligand in the binuclear subsite: comparison to the wild type and propane di-thiol variants
[FeFe] Hydrogenases catalyze the reversible conversion of H2 into electrons and protons. Their catalytic site, the H-cluster, contains a generic [4Fe–4S]H cluster coupled to a [2Fe]H subsite [Fe2(ADT)(CO)3(CN)2]2−, ADT = µ(SCH2)2NH. Heterologously expressed [FeFe] hydrogenases (apo-hydrogenase) lack the [2Fe]H unit, but this can be incorporated through artificial maturation with a synthetic precursor [Fe2(ADT)(CO)4(CN)2]2−. Maturation with a [2Fe] complex in which the essential ADT amine moiety has been replaced by CH2 (PDT = propane-dithiolate) results in a low activity enzyme with structural and spectroscopic properties similar to those of the native enzyme, but with simplified redox behavior. Here, we study the effect of sulfur-to-selenium (S-to-Se) substitution in the bridging PDT ligand incorporated in the [FeFe] hydrogenase HydA1 from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii using magnetic resonance (EPR, NMR), FTIR and spectroelectrochemistry. The resulting HydA1-PDSe enzyme shows the same redox behavior as the parent HydA1-PDT. In addition, a state is observed in which extraneous CO is bound to the open coordination site of the [2Fe]H unit. This state was previously observed only in the native enzyme HydA1-ADT and not in HydA1-PDT. The spectroscopic features and redox behavior of HydA1-PDSe, resulting from maturation with [Fe2(PDSe)(CO)4(CN)2]2−, are discussed in terms of spin and charge density shifts and provide interesting insight into the electronic structure of the H-cluster. We also studied the effect of S-to-Se substitution in the [4Fe–4S] subcluster. The reduced form of HydA1 containing only the [4Fe–4Se]H cluster shows a characteristic S = 7/2 spin state which converts back into the S = 1/2 spin state upon maturation with a [2Fe]–PDT/ADT complex
Review of "Image processing and analysis: variational, PDE, Wavelet, and Stochastic methods" by Tony F. Chan and Jianhong (Jackie) Shen
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