433 research outputs found
Exceptionally Slow Rise in Differential Reflectivity Spectra of Excitons in GaN: Effect of Excitation-induced Dephasing
Femtosecond pump-probe (PP) differential reflectivity spectroscopy (DRS) and
four-wave mixing (FWM) experiments were performed simultaneously to study the
initial temporal dynamics of the exciton line-shapes in GaN epilayers. Beats
between the A-B excitons were found \textit{only for positive time delay} in
both PP and FWM experiments. The rise time at negative time delay for the
differential reflection spectra was much slower than the FWM signal or PP
differential transmission spectroscopy (DTS) at the exciton resonance. A
numerical solution of a six band semiconductor Bloch equation model including
nonlinearities at the Hartree-Fock level shows that this slow rise in the DRS
results from excitation induced dephasing (EID), that is, the strong density
dependence of the dephasing time which changes with the laser excitation
energy.Comment: 8 figure
Ultrafast spectroscopy of propagating coherent acoustic phonons in GaN/InGaN heterostructures
We show that large amplitude, coherent acoustic phonon wavepackets can be
generated and detected in InGaN/GaN epilayers and heterostructures
in femtosecond pump-probe differential reflectivity experiments. The amplitude
of the coherent phonon increases with increasing Indium fraction and unlike
other coherent phonon oscillations, both \textit{amplitude} and \textit{period}
are strong functions of the laser probe energy. The amplitude of the
oscillation is substantially and almost instantaneously reduced when the
wavepacket reaches a GaN-sapphire interface below the surface indicating that
the phonon wavepackets are useful for imaging below the surface. A theoretical
model is proposed which fits the experiments well and helps to deduce the
strength of the phonon wavepackets. Our model shows that localized coherent
phonon wavepackets are generated by the femtosecond pump laser in the epilayer
near the surface. The wavepackets then propagate through a GaN layer changing
the local index of refraction, primarily through the Franz-Keldysh effect, and
as a result, modulate the reflectivity of the probe beam. Our model correctly
predicts the experimental dependence on probe-wavelength as well as epilayer
thickness.Comment: 11 pages, 14 figure
Role of Multipoles in Counterion-Mediated Interactions between Charged Surfaces: Strong and Weak Coupling
We present general arguments for the importance, or lack thereof, of the
structure in the charge distribution of counterions for counterion-mediated
interactions between bounding symmetrically charged surfaces. We show that on
the mean field or weak coupling level, the charge quadrupole contributes the
lowest order modification to the contact value theorem and thus to the
intersurface electrostatic interactions. The image effects are non-existent on
the mean-field level even with multipoles. On the strong coupling level the
quadrupoles and higher order multipoles contribute additional terms to the
interaction free energy only in the presence of dielectric inhomogeneities.
Without them, the monopole is the only multipole that contributes to the strong
coupling electrostatics. We explore the consequences of these statements in all
their generality.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure
Nonlinear Photoelasticity to Explicate Acoustic Dephasing Dynamics
Detection and controlling of acoustic (AC) phonon phase have been strenuous tasks although such capability is crucial for further manipulating thermal properties. Here, we present a versatile formalism for tracing AC nanowaves with arbitrary strain compositions by incorporating the nonlinear photoelasticity (PE) into ultrafast acoustics where broad AC spectrum encompassing thermally important THz frequency range should be collected far beyond Brillouin frequency. The initial AC phase upon displacive carrier generation could be inherently varied depending on the bipolar AC compositions by implementing externally biased piezoelectric diodes. The importance of adopting nonlinear PE is then manifested from the transient phase shift either abrupt at the point of diffuse surface scattering or gradual during phonon-phonon or phonon-electron scattering events based on which the ratio of nonlinear to linear PE coefficient is experimentally extracted as a function of the detection probe energy, reaching 0.98 slightly below the bandgap. As the probing energy is rather set away from the bandgap, AC phase is completely invariant with any scattering events, exhibiting the conventional trend at Brillouin frequency in linear regime. Under potent influence of nonlinear PE, the AC dephasing time during the propagation are quantified as a function of AC wavepacket size and further correlated with intrinsic and extrinsic AC scattering mechanisms in electron reservoir
Dark-bright magneto-exciton mixing induced by Coulomb interaction in strained quantum wells
Coupled magneto-exciton states between allowed (`bright') and forbidden
(`dark') transitions are found in absorption spectra of strained
InGaAs/GaAs quantum wells with increasing magnetic field up to
30 T. We found large (~ 10 meV) energy splittings in the mixed states. The
observed anticrossing behavior is independent of polarization, and sensitive
only to the parity of the quantum confined states. Detailed experimental and
theoretical investigations indicate that the excitonic Coulomb interaction
rather than valence band complexity is responsible for the splittings. In
addition, we determine the spin composition of the mixed states.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Strong Coupling Electrostatics in the Presence of Dielectric Inhomogeneities
We study the strong-coupling (SC) interaction between two like-charged
membranes of finite thickness embedded in a medium of higher dielectric
constant. A generalized SC theory is applied along with extensive Monte-Carlo
simulations to study the image charge effects induced by multiple dielectric
discontinuities in this system. These effects lead to strong counterion
crowding in the central region of the inter-surface space upon increasing the
solvent/membrane dielectric mismatch and change the membrane interactions from
attractive to repulsive at small separations. These features agree
quantitatively with the SC theory at elevated couplings or dielectric mismatch
where the correlation hole around counterions is larger than the thickness of
the central counterion layer.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1) regulates mesenchymal stem cells through let-7f microRNA and Wnt/Ī²-catenin signaling
Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases 1 (TIMP-1) is a matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-independent regulator of growth and apoptosis in various cell types. The receptors and signaling pathways that are involved in the growth factor activities of TIMP-1, however, remain controversial. RNA interference of TIMP-1 has revealed that endogenous TIMP-1 suppresses the proliferation, metabolic activity, and osteogenic differentiation capacity of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs). The knockdown of TIMP-1 in hMSCs activated the Wnt/Ī²-catenin signaling pathway as indicated by the increased stability and nuclear localization of Ī²-catenin in TIMP-1ādeficient hMSCs. Moreover, TIMP-1 knockdown cells exhibited enhanced Ī²-catenin transcriptional activity, determined by Wnt/Ī²-catenin target gene expression analysis and a luciferase-based Ī²-cateninā
activated reporter assay. An analysis of a mutant form of TIMP-1 that cannot inhibit MMP indicated that the effect of TIMP-1 on Ī²-catenin signaling is MMP independent. Furthermore, the binding of CD63 to TIMP-1 on the surface of hMSCs is essential for the TIMP-1āmediated effects on Wnt/Ī²-catenin signaling. An array analysis of microRNAs (miRNAs) and transfection studies with specific miRNA inhibitors and mimics showed that let-7f miRNA is crucial for the regulation of Ī²-catenin activity and osteogenic differentiation by TIMP-1. Let-7f was up-regulated in TIMP-1ādepleted hMSCs and demonstrably reduced axin 2, an antagonist of Ī²-catenin stability. Our results demonstrate that TIMP-1 is a direct regulator of hMSC functions and reveal a regulatory network in which let-7f modulates Wnt/Ī²-catenin activity
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