275 research outputs found
Delay and distortion of slow light pulses by excitons in ZnO
Light pulses propagating through ZnO undergo distortions caused by both bound
and free excitons. Numerous lines of bound excitons dissect the pulse and
induce slowing of light around them, to the extend dependent on their nature.
Exciton-polariton resonances determine the overall pulse delay and attenuation.
The delay time of the higher-energy edge of a strongly curved light stripe
approaches 1.6 ns at 3.374 eV with a 0.3 mm propagation length. Modelling the
data of cw and time-of-flight spectroscopies has enabled us to determine the
excitonic parameters, inherent for bulk ZnO. We reveal the restrictions on
these parameters induced by the light attenuation, as well as a discrepancy
between the parameters characterizing the surface and internal regions of the
crystal.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Excitonic parameters of GaN studied by time-of-flight spectroscopy
We refine excitonic parameters of bulk GaN by means of time-of-flight
spectroscopy of light pulses propagating through crystals. The influence of
elastic photon scattering is excluded by using the multiple reflections of the
pulses from crystal boundaries. The shapes of these reflexes in the time-energy
plane depict the variation of the group velocity induced by excitonic
resonances. Modeling of the shapes, as well as other spectra, shows that a
homogeneous width of the order of 10 \mu eV characterizes the exciton-polariton
resonances within the crystal. The oscillator strength of A and B
exciton-polaritons is determined as 0.0022 and 0.0016, respectively.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure
Mie-resonances, infrared emission and band gap of InN
Mie resonances due to scattering/absorption of light in InN containing
clusters of metallic In may have been erroneously interpreted as the infrared
band gap absorption in tens of papers. Here we show by direct thermally
detected optical absorption measurements that the true band gap of InN is
markedly wider than currently accepted 0.7 eV. Micro-cathodoluminescence
studies complemented by imaging of metallic In have shown that bright infrared
emission at 0.7-0.8 eV arises from In aggregates, and is likely associated with
surface states at the metal/InN interfaces.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, submitted to PR
Topoisomer Differentiation of Molecular Knots by FTICR MS: Lessons from Class II Lasso Peptides
Lasso peptides constitute a class of bioactive peptides sharing a knotted
structure where the C-terminal tail of the peptide is threaded through and
trapped within an N-terminalmacrolactamring. The structural characterization of
lasso structures and differentiation from their unthreaded topoisomers is not
trivial and generally requires the use of complementary biochemical and
spectroscopic methods. Here we investigated two antimicrobial peptides
belonging to the class II lasso peptide family and their corresponding
unthreaded topoisomers: microcin J25 (MccJ25), which is known to yield
two-peptide product ions specific of the lasso structure under collisioninduced
dissociation (CID), and capistruin, for which CID does not permit to
unambiguously assign the lasso structure. The two pairs of topoisomers were
analyzed by electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance
mass spectrometry (ESI-FTICR MS) upon CID, infrared multiple photon
dissociation (IRMPD), and electron capture dissociation (ECD). CID and
ECDspectra clearly permitted to differentiate MccJ25 from its non-lasso
topoisomer MccJ25-Icm, while for capistruin, only ECD was informative and
showed different extent of hydrogen migration (formation of c\bullet/z from
c/z\bullet) for the threaded and unthreaded topoisomers. The ECD spectra of the
triply-charged MccJ25 and MccJ25-lcm showed a series of radical b-type product
ions {\eth}b0In{\TH}. We proposed that these ions are specific of
cyclic-branched peptides and result from a dual c/z\bullet and y/b
dissociation, in the ring and in the tail, respectively. This work shows the
potentiality of ECD for structural characterization of peptide topoisomers, as
well as the effect of conformation on hydrogen migration subsequent to electron
capture
Electron Capture Dissociation Mass Spectrometry of Tyrosine Nitrated Peptides
In vivo protein nitration is associated with many disease conditions that involve oxidative stress and inflammatory response. The modification involves addition of a nitro group at the position ortho to the phenol group of tyrosine to give 3-nitrotyrosine. To understand the mechanisms and consequences of protein nitration, it is necessary to develop methods for identification of nitrotyrosine-containing proteins and localization of the sites of modification.Here, we have investigated the electron capture dissociation (ECD) and collision-induced association (CID) behavior of 3-nitrotyrosine-containing peptides. The presence of nitration did not affect the CID behavior of the peptides. For the doubly-charged peptides, addition of nitration severely inhibited the production of ECD sequence fragments. However, ECD of the triply-charged nitrated peptides resulted in some singly-charged sequence fragments. ECD of the nitrated peptides is characterized by multiple losses of small neutral species including hydroxyl radicals, water and ammonia. The origin of the neutral losses has been investigated by use of activated ion (AI) ECD. Loss of ammonia appears to be the result of non-covalent interactions between the nitro group and protonated lysine side-chains
Equilibrium shapes and energies of coherent strained InP islands
The equilibrium shapes and energies of coherent strained InP islands grown on
GaP have been investigated with a hybrid approach that has been previously
applied to InAs islands on GaAs. This combines calculations of the surface
energies by density functional theory and the bulk deformation energies by
continuum elasticity theory. The calculated equilibrium shapes for different
chemical environments exhibit the {101}, {111}, {\=1\=1\=1} facets and a (001)
top surface. They compare quite well with recent atomic-force microscopy data.
Thus in the InP/GaInP-system a considerable equilibration of the individual
islands with respect to their shapes can be achieved. We discuss the
implications of our results for the Ostwald ripening of the coherent InP
islands. In addition we compare strain fields in uncapped and capped islands.Comment: 10 pages including 6 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev. B. Related
publications can be found at http://www.fhi-berlin.mpg.de/th/paper.htm
- …