Effect of pH on the fluorescence and absorption spectra of hypericin in reverse micelles

The well-characterized, monodispersed nature of reverse micelles formed by sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl)sulfosuccinate/heptane and their usefulness in approximating a membrane-like environment have been exploited to investigate the effect of pH and water pool size on the photophysical properties of hypericin (Hyp). Our measurements reveal two titratable groups of pKa approximately 1.5 and approximately 12.5. These are assigned to the HypH+/Hyp equilibrium (the deprotonation of a carbonyl group) and the Hyp-/Hyp2- equilibrium (the deprotonation of a peri hydroxyl group). The low-energy absorbance maxima of HypH+, of Hyp and Hyp- and of Hyp2- are 583, 594 and 613 nm, respectively. Neither at pH 13 nor at 1 M HCl is the system entirely in the Hyp2- or the HypH+ forms. Ours is the first study of Hyp in reverse micelles as well as the first time-resolved study of Hyp as a function of pH.     

On the modulation of ion-acoustic solitary waves in a cylindrical warm plasma near critical density

Summary We have derived a modified cylindrical K-dV (MCK-dV) equation for an ion-acoustic wave in a warm plasma with two-temperature electrons, in a cylindrical geometry, near the critical density where the nonlinearity of the usual CK-dV vanishes. The solitary-wave solution of MCK-dV is then discussed analytically using the concept of adiabatic invariants and the basic theorem due to Lax, instead of any numerical evaluation. This modulated form of the solitary wave is then discussed graphically as regards its variation with respect to the change in concentration of law- and high-temperature electrons.     

On the relation between the fermi energies in the presence and absence of magnetic quantization in degenerate semiconductors having non-parabolic energy bands

An investigation is made of the influence of band non-parabolicity on the relation between the Fermi energies in the presence and absence of magnetic quantization in degenerate semi-conductors through derivation of a simplified form of the relation.On leave of absence from theDept. of Physics, B. N. College, Patna University, Patna 800004.     

Influence of alloy composition on the diffusivity-mobility ratio in n-channel inversion layers on ternary semiconductors

An expression is derived for the diffusivity-mobility ratio of the carriers in n-channel inversion layers on semiconductors like the ternary compounds which have strongly non-parabolic energy bands. The dependence of the ratio on alloy composition is also studied under the weak-field limit taking n-channel Hg_1–xCd_x.Te as an example.On leave of absence fromthe Department of Physics, Patna University, Patna, India.     

Prolongation structure of a new integrable system

We have obtained the inverse scattering equations associated with a new pair of coupled nonlinear evolution equations in two dimensions. The spectral parameter is introduced by invoking the invariance of the equation set, and imposing those on the Lax pair.     

On hydromagnetic turbulent shear flow between moving parallel planes

Hydromagnetic turbulent shear flow of viscous, incompressible, electrically conducting fluid between two infinite uniformly porous moving parallel planes in the presence of axial and transverse magnetic field has been studied by the semi-empirical method. The expressions for the mean distributions for velocity and magnetic field for turbulent shear flow have been obtained for both the cases. As particular cases, the results have been obtained if the planes are fixed. The solutions obtained when the magnetic field is axial have been shown graphically for turbulent and laminar flows.     

Stress in polycrystalline GaN films prepared by r.f sputtering

Undoped, Be-doped and Si-doped polycrystalline GaN films were deposited by R.F. sputtering onto fused silica substrates. The films were deposited at various deposition temperatures ranging from 300 K to 623 K and characterized by optical measurements while the microstructural information was obtained from SEM and XRD studies. The compositional study for the GaN film was carried out using SIMS. Residual stresses in these films were evaluated from the band tail of the absorption spectra as well as from direct measurements of hardness by commercially available depth sensing indentometer. It was observed that undoped GaN films had the highest hardness followed by that for Be-doped and Si-doped films. The values of hardness obtained form the above optical measurement tallied quite well with those obtained from direct indentation measurement.     

Intracellular transport of single-headed molecular motors KIF1A

Motivated by experiments on single-headed kinesin KIF1A, we develop a model of intracellular transport by interacting molecular motors. It captures explicitly not only the effects of adenosine triphosphate hydrolysis, but also the ratchet mechanism which drives individual motors. Our model accounts for the experimentally observed single-molecule properties in the low-density limit and also predicts a phase diagram that shows the influence of hydrolysis and Langmuir kinetics on the collective spatiotemporal organization of the motors. Finally, we provide experimental evidence for the existence of domain walls in our in vitro experiment with fluorescently labeled KIF1A.     

Does Solvent Influence the Ground-state Tautomeric Population of Hypericin?¶

Nuclear magnetic resonance measurements indicate that hypericin exists in the same "normal" tautomeric form irrespective of whether the solvent is dimethyl sulfoxide or tetrahydrofuran. This result is discussed in the context of previous experimental and theoretical work. It is concluded that solvent perturbations cannot induce tautomerization in hypericin.     

Figure of merit for near-velocity-matched traveling-wave modulators

We derive a relationship between the bandwidth and active length and a figure of merit for velocity- and near-velocity-matched lithium niobate traveling-wave electro-optic modulators. The figure of merit is given by the bandwidth per unit drive voltage squared and is independent of the length of the device. Alternatively, this figure of merit can be described by its inverse, which is proportional to the device's switching energy.