Antenna enhanced graphene THz emitter and detector

Recent intense electrical and optical studies of graphene have pushed the material to the forefront of optoelectronic research. Of particular interest is the few terahertz (THz) frequency regime where efficient light sources and highly sensitive detectors are very challenging to make. Here we present THz sources and detectors made with graphene field effect transistors (GFETs) enhanced by a double-patch antenna and an on-chip silicon lens. We report the first experimental observation of 1-3 THz radiation from graphene, as well as four orders of magnitude performance improvements in a GFET thermoelectric detector operating at ~2 THz. The quantitative analysis of the emitting power and its unusual charge density dependence indicate significant non-thermal contribution from the GFET. The polarization resolved detection measurements with different illumination geometries allow for detailed and quantitative analysis of various factors that contribute to the overall detector performance. Our experimental results represent a significant advance towards practically useful graphene THz devices

Raman Scattering and Anomalous Stokes-anti-Stokes Ratio in MoTe2 Atomic Layers

Stokes and anti-Stokes Raman scattering are performed on atomic layers of hexagonal molybdenum ditelluride (MoTe2), a prototypical transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) semiconductor. The data reveal all six types of zone center optical phonons, along with their corresponding Davydov splittings, which have been challenging to see in other TMDCs. We discover that the anti-Stokes Raman intensity of the low energy layer-breathing mode becomes more intense than the Stokes peak under certain experimental conditions, and find the effect to be tunable by excitation frequency and number of atomic layers. These observations are interpreted as a result of resonance effects arising from the C excitons in the vicinity of the Brillouin zone center in the photon-electron-phonon interaction process

Involvement of a Response Regulator VdSsk1 in Stress Response, Melanin Biosynthesis and Full Virulence in Verticillium dahliae

Verticillium dahliae causes vascular wilt disease on over 200 plant species worldwide. This fungus forms melanized microsclerotia which help it to survive under adverse conditions and these structures are vital to the disease spread. Here, we identified and characterized a V. dahliae homolog to of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Ssk1, a response regulator of the two-component system. Herein, we demonstrated that the VdSsk1 deletion strains were more sensitive to various stresses, including oxidative stress conferred by H2O2 and sodium nitroprusside dihydrate, while the mutants confered higher resistance to fungicides such as fludioxonil and iprodione. Furthermore, disruption of VdSsk1 resulted in significant downregulation of melanin biosynthesis-related genes but did not affect microsclerotial development. Phosphorylation of VdHog1 was not detected in the VdSsk1 deletion strains under the treatment of sorbitol, indicating that phosphorylation of VdHog1 is dependent on VdSsk1. Finally, we demonstrated that VdSsk1 is required for full virulence. Taken together, this study suggests that VdSsk1 modulates stress response, melanin biosynthesis and virulence of V. dahliae

Crystal structure of the lipopolysaccharide outer core galactosyltransferase WaaB involved in pathogenic bacterial invasion of host cells

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is essential for most gram-negative bacteria and plays an important role in serum resistance, pathogenesis, drug resistance, and protection from harsh environments. The outer core oligosaccharide of LPS is involved in bacterial recognition and invasion of host cells. The D-galactosyltransferase WaaB is responsible for the addition of D-galactose to the outer core oligosaccharide of LPS, which is essential for Salmonella typhimurium invasion. Here we report the first crystal structures of WaaB and WaaB in complex with UDP to resolutions of 1.8 and 1.9 Å, respectively. Mutagenesis and enzyme activity assays confirmed that residues V186, K195, I216, W243, E276, and E269 of WaaB are essential for the binding and hydrolysis of UDP-galactose. The elucidation of the catalytic mechanism of WaaB is of great importance and could potentially be used for the design of novel therapeutic reagents

Statistical Study of Ion Upflow and Downflow Observed by PFISR

Ion upflow in the F region and topside ionosphere can greatly influence the ion density and fluxes at higher altitudes and thus has significant impact on ion outflow. We investigated the statistical characteristics of ion upflow and downflow using a 3‐year (2011–2013) data set from the Poker Flat Incoherent Scatter Radar (PFISR). Ion upflow is twice more likely to occur on the nightside than on the dayside in PFISR observations, while downflow events occur more often in the afternoon sector. Upflow and downflow on the dayside tend to occur at altitudes ~500 km, higher than those on the nightside. Both upflow and downflow occur more frequently as ion convection speed increases. Upflow observed from 16 to 6 magnetic local time through midnight is associated with temperature and density enhancements. Occurrence rates of upflow on the nightside and downflow on the dayside increase with geomagnetic activity level. On the nightside, occurrence rate of ion upflow increases with enhanced solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) drivers as well as southwestward local magnetic perturbations. The lack of correlation of upflow on the dayside with the solar wind and IMF parameters is because PFISR is usually equatorward of the dayside auroral zone. Occurrence rate of downflow does not show strong dependence on the solar wind and IMF conditions. However, it occurs much more frequently on the dayside when the IMF By > 10 nT and the IMF Bz < −10 nT, which we suggest is associated with the decaying of the dayside storm‐enhanced density (SED) and the SED plume.Key PointsThe occurrence frequency of ion upflow increases with enhanced geomagnetic activity level and stronger solar wind and IMF drivingIon upflow at PFISR latitude is twice more likely to occur on the nightside than on the daysidePeak ion downflow occurrence rate reaches 30% on the dayside during strongly positive IMF By and negative Bz, associated with SED and plumePeer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/163443/3/jgra56049-sup-0001-2020JA028179-SI.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/163443/2/jgra56049.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/163443/1/jgra56049_am.pd

Evaluating the impact of blowing-snow sea salt aerosol on springtime BrO and O3 in the Arctic

We use the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model to examine the influence of bromine release from blowingsnow sea salt aerosol (SSA) on springtime bromine activation and O3 depletion events (ODEs) in the Arctic lower troposphere. We evaluate our simulation against observations of tropospheric BrO vertical column densities (VCDtropo) from the GOME-2 (second Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment) and Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) spaceborne instruments for 3 years (2007-2009), as well as against surface observations of O3. We conduct a simulation with blowingsnow SSA emissions from first-year sea ice (FYI; with a surface snow salinity of 0.1 psu) and multi-year sea ice (MYI; with a surface snow salinity of 0.05 psu), assuming a factor of 5 bromide enrichment of surface snow relative to seawater. This simulation captures the magnitude of observed March-April GOME-2 and OMI VCDtropo to within 17 %, as well as their spatiotemporal variability (r D 0:76-0.85). Many of the large-scale bromine explosions are successfully reproduced, with the exception of events in May, which are absent or systematically underpredicted in the model. If we assume a lower salinity on MYI (0.01 psu), some of the bromine explosions events observed over MYI are not captured, suggesting that blowing snow over MYI is an important source of bromine activation. We find that the modeled atmospheric deposition onto snow-covered sea ice becomes highly enriched in bromide, increasing from enrichment factors of ~ 5 in September-February to 10-60 in May, consistent with composition observations of freshly fallen snow. We propose that this progressive enrichment in deposition could enable blowing-snow-induced halogen activation to propagate into May and might explain our late-spring underestimate in VCDtropo. We estimate that the atmospheric deposition of SSA could increase snow salinity by up to 0.04 psu between February and April, which could be an important source of salinity for surface snow on MYI as well as FYI covered by deep snowpack. Inclusion of halogen release from blowing-snow SSA in our simulations decreases monthly mean Arctic surface O3 by 4-8 ppbv (15 %-30 %) in March and 8-14 ppbv (30 %-40 %) in April. We reproduce a transport event of depleted O3 Arctic air down to 40 N observed at many sub-Arctic surface sites in early April 2007. While our simulation captures 25 %-40 % of the ODEs observed at coastal Arctic surface sites, it underestimates the magnitude of many of these events and entirely misses 60 %-75 % of ODEs. This difficulty in reproducing observed surface ODEs could be related to the coarse horizontal resolution of the model, the known biases in simulating Arctic boundary layer exchange processes, the lack of detailed chlorine chemistry, and/or the fact that we did not include direct halogen activation by snowpack chemistry

Progress in Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution Based on Monolayer Molybdenum Disulfide

Energy and environmental issues raise higher demands on the development of a sustainable energy system, and the electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution is one of the most important ways to realize this goal. Two-dimensional (2D) materials represented by molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) have been widely investigated as an efficient electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution. However, there are still some shortcomings to restrict the efficiency of MoS2 electrocatalyst, such as the limited numbers of active sites, lower intrinsic catalytic activity and poor interlayer conductivity. In this review, the application of monolayer MoS2 and its composites with 0D, 1D, and 2D nanomaterials in the electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution were discussed. On the basis of optimizing the composition and structure, the numbers of active sites, intrinsic catalytic activity, and interlayer conductivity could be significantly enhanced. In the future, the study would focus on the structure, active site, and interface characteristics, as well as the structure-activity relationship and synergetic effect. Then, the enhanced electrocatalytic activity of monolayer MoS2 can be achieved at the macro, nano and atomic levels, respectively. This review provides a new idea for the structural design of two-dimensional electrocatalytic materials. Meanwhile, it is of great significance to promote the study of the structure-activity relationship and mechanism in catalytic reactions