724 research outputs found
Spin dynamics in p-doped semiconductor nanostructures subject to a magnetic field tilted from the Voigt geometry
We develop a theoretical description of the spin dynamics of resident holes
in a p-doped semiconductor quantum well (QW) subject to a magnetic field tilted
from the Voigt geometry. We find the expressions for the signals measured in
time-resolved Faraday rotation (TRFR) and resonant spin amplification (RSA)
experiments and study their behavior for a range of system parameters. We find
that an inversion of the RSA peaks can occur for long hole spin dephasing times
and tilted magnetic fields. We verify the validity of our theoretical findings
by performing a series of TRFR and RSA experiments on a p-modulation doped
GaAs/Al_{0.3}Ga_{0.7}As single QW and showing that our model can reproduce
experimentally observed signals.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures; corrected typo
Gate control of low-temperature spin dynamics in two-dimensional hole systems
We have investigated spin and carrier dynamics of resident holes in
high-mobility two-dimensional hole systems in GaAs/AlGaAs
single quantum wells at temperatures down to 400 mK. Time-resolved Faraday and
Kerr rotation, as well as time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy are
utilized in our study. We observe long-lived hole spin dynamics that are
strongly temperature dependent, indicating that in-plane localization is
crucial for hole spin coherence. By applying a gate voltage, we are able to
tune the observed hole g factor by more than 50 percent. Calculations of the
hole g tensor as a function of the applied bias show excellent agreement with
our experimental findings.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure
Rational Design of Resveratrol O-methyltransferase for the Production of Pinostilbene
Pinostilbene is a monomethyl ether analog of the well-known nutraceutical resveratrol. Both compounds have health-promoting properties, but the latter undergoes rapid metabolization and has low bioavailability. O-methylation improves the stability and bioavailability of resveratrol. In plants, these reactions are performed by O-methyltransferases (OMTs). Few efficient OMTs that monomethylate resveratrol to yield pinostilbene have been described so far. Here, we report the engineering of a resveratrol OMT from Vitis vinifera (VvROMT), which has the highest catalytic efficiency in di-methylating resveratrol to yield pterostilbene. In the absence of a crystal structure, we constructed a three-dimensional protein model of VvROMT and identified four critical binding site residues by applying different in silico approaches. We performed point mutations in these positions generating W20A, F24A, F311A, and F318A variants, which greatly reduced resveratrol’s enzymatic conversion. Then, we rationally designed eight variants through comparison of the binding site residues with other stilbene OMTs. We successfully modified the native substrate selectivity of VvROMT. Variant L117F/F311W showed the highest conversion to pinostilbene, and variant L117F presented an overall increase in enzymatic activity. Our results suggest that VvROMT has potential for the tailor-made production of stilbenes.This research was funded by PROYECTO INTERDISCIPLINA-VRI-UC-II160020, number 3514-913, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (to L.P.P. and A.S.) and BECA DE DOCTORADO NACIONAL 2016, number 21161084, National Agency for Research and Development (ANID), Chile (to D.P.H.), for which we are grateful. The APC was funded by Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Detection of large magneto-anisotropy of electron spin dephasing in a high-mobility two-dimensional electron system in a GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well
In time-resolved Faraday rotation experiments we have detected an inplane
anisotropy of the electron spin-dephasing time (SDT) in an
--modulation-doped GaAs/AlGaAs single quantum well. The SDT
was measured with magnetic fields of T, applied in the and
inplane crystal directions of the GaAs quantum well. For fields
along , we have found an up to a factor of about 2 larger SDT than
in the perpendicular direction. Fully microscopic calculations, by numerically
solving the kinetic spin Bloch equations considering the D'yakonov-Perel' and
the Bir-Aronov-Pikus mechanisms, reproduce the experimental findings
quantitatively. This quantitative analysis of the data allowed us to determine
the relative strengths of Rashba and Dresselhaus terms in our sample. Moreover,
we could estimate the SDT for spins aligned in the {\em inplane}
direction to be on the order of several nanoseconds, which is up to two orders
of magnitude larger than that in the perpendicular {\em inplane} direction.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to be published in PR
Effects of tillage systems and mechanization on work time, fuel and energy consumption for cereal cropping in Austria
The machinery stock, fuel consumption and work time are crucial economic factors for the profit potential in the arable farming sector. The influence of five soil tillage systems (two conventional tillage systems and three conservation tillage systems) and two tractor sizes (92 kW-tractor and 59 kW-tractor) on work time, fuel and energy consumption was measured in the semi-arid region in Austria. The tractors were equipped with a high-performance flow meter and a radar sensor to measure the fuel consumption (L h-1) and working speed (km h-1). The conventional tillage with mouldboard plough has the highest working time and fuel consumption rate. The replacement of plough with a cultivator, reduces the work time and fuel consumption for soil tillage as well as the energy consumption per moved soil matter to more than 50% roughly. The highest saving effects (more than 85%) were achieved with the direct drilling without soil tillage system. A well loaded engine in a small tractor with small implements is more fuel efficient than a worse loaded engine in a “big tractor”. An adjusted tractor-implement combination, which is well implemented in the 59-kW mechanization, decreases the fuel consumption to up to 30% and 46%. Due to lower field capacity in the 59-kW mechanization, the work time is higher between 2.4% and 11.7%. Keywords: fuel consumption, mechanization, tillage system, work tim
CurlySMILES: a chemical language to customize and annotate encodings of molecular and nanodevice structures
CurlySMILES is a chemical line notation which extends SMILES with annotations for storage, retrieval and modeling of interlinked, coordinated, assembled and adsorbed molecules in supramolecular structures and nanodevices. Annotations are enclosed in curly braces and anchored to an atomic node or at the end of the molecular graph depending on the annotation type. CurlySMILES includes predefined annotations for stereogenicity, electron delocalization charges, extra-molecular interactions and connectivity, surface attachment, solutions, and crystal structures and allows extensions for domain-specific annotations. CurlySMILES provides a shorthand format to encode molecules with repetitive substructural parts or motifs such as monomer units in macromolecules and amino acids in peptide chains. CurlySMILES further accommodates special formats for non-molecular materials that are commonly denoted by composition of atoms or substructures rather than complete atom connectivity
Oscillation modes of two-dimensional nanostructures within the time-dependent local-spin-density approximation
We apply the time-dependent local-spin-density approximation as general
theory to describe ground states and spin-density oscillations in the linear
response regime of two-dimensional nanostructures of arbitrary shape. For this
purpose, a frequency analysis of the simulated real-time evolution is
performed. The effect on the response of the recently proposed spin-density
waves in the ground state of certain parabolic quantum dots is considered. They
lead to the prediction of a new class of excitations, soft spin-twist modes,
with energies well below that of the spin dipole oscillation.Comment: 4 RevTex pages and 4 GIF figures, accepted in PR
Investigation of fiber/matrix adhesion: test speed and specimen shape effects in the cylinder test
The cylinder test, developed from the microdroplet test, was adapted to assess the interfacial adhesion strength between fiber and matrix. The sensitivity of cylinder test to pull-out speed and specimen geometry was measured. It was established that the effect of test speed can be described as a superposition of two opposite, simultaneous effects which have been modeled mathematically by fitting two parameter Weibull curves on the measured datas. Effects of the cylinder size and its geometrical relation on the measured strength values have been analyzed by finite element method. It was concluded that the geometry has a direct influence on the stress formation. Based on the results achieved, recommendations were given on how to perform the novel single fiber cylinder test
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