Laser systems specialized for laser spectroscopy at storage rings

Laser spectroscopy at storage rings often suffers from a limited resolution due to Doppler-broadened resonances. Broadening is caused by the velocity spread of the ions stored in the beam. In the following, the present status of our work on laser systems specialized on the specific needs of laser spectroscopy at storage rings is reported. Two pulsed laser systems were developed. One is a dye laser whose spectral bandwidth can be switched by inserting different Littrow-prisms into the resonator. An increase in bandwidth up to a factor of 45 was achieved. This laser was used for fast qualitative scans and high resolution measurements. The other laser system is a Nd : YAG laser pumped optical parametric oscillator. It is a tunable laser system covering the spectral range from 410 to 4000 nm. Furthermore, a continuous wave laser with a frequency shifted feedback cavity is described. It shows broadband emission with an adjustable bandwidth of up to 4.5 GHz. This laser can be advantageous for laser cooling of ion beams. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Active Q-switching of the Alexandrite laser

An alexandrite-laser rod was actively Q-switched in the transversal fundamental mode at λ = 758 nm with an double crystal KD^*P Pockels cell. Pulse width, pulse energy and optical pulse delay (the build-up time of the photon field in the resonator) were measured as functions of pumping energy, rod temperature and reflectivity of the output coupling mirror. As the laser gain of alexandrite strongly depends on temperature, the pulse width and pulse energy were also investigated as functions of the temperature of the active material. A comparison of experimental data with theory was made.     

Influence of the host on vibronic relaxation: a study of free-base porphin in a series of n-alkanes by photochemical hole-burning

Photochemical hole-burning is used to determine the relaxation times of vibronic bands of the S₁ ← S₀ transition to free-base porphin in different substitutional sites of n-hexane, n-heptane, n-octane and n-decane at 1.6 K. The vibronic relaxation depends strongly on site and host. A correlation between the n-alkane chain length and the vibronic relaxation time is observed.     

Two-proton correlations in the target fragmentation region of nuclear collisions at 200A GeV

Correlations between protons are studied in the target fragmentation region of reactions of protons and¹⁶O with C, Cu, Ag, Au and of³²S with Al and Au at 200A GeV. The emitted protons were measured with the Plastic Ball detector in the WA80 experiment at the CERN SPS. The comparison of the correlation function with calculations, assuming a spherical, gaussian shaped source with a lifetime τ=0 fm/c, allows the extraction of radius parameters. The values are very close to those expected from the geometry of the target nuclei and increase with the target mass as αA _Target ^1/3 . Even in proton induced reactions the whole target nucleus is involved. The dependence of the radii on centrality, polar angleθ _lab, and energy, and their relation to measured proton yields are presented.     

A comprehensive two-dimensional map of cytosolic proteins of Bacillus subtilis

Proteomics relying on two-dimensional (2-D) gel electrophoresis of proteins followed by spot identification with mass spectrometry is an excellent experimental tool for physiological studies opening a new perspective for understanding overall cell physiology. This is the intriguing outcome of a method introduced by Klose and O'Farrell independently 25 years ago. Physiological proteomics requires a 2-D reference map on which most of the main proteins were identified. In this paper, we present such a reference map with more than 300 entries for Bacillus subtilis proteins with an isoelectric point (pI) between 4 and 7. The most abundant proteins of exponentially growing cells were compiled and shown to perform mainly housekeeping functions in glycolysis, tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCC), amino acid biosynthesis and translation as well as protein quality control. Furthermore, putative post-translational modifications were shown at a large scale, with 47 proteins in total forming more than one spot. In a few selected cases evidence for phosphorylation of these proteins is presented. The proteome analysis in the standard pI range was complemented by either stretching the most crowded regions in a narrow pH gradient 4.5-5.5, or by adding other fractions of the total B. subtilis proteome such as alkaline proteins as well as extracellular proteins. A big challenge for future studies is to provide an experimental protocol covering the fraction of intrinsic membrane proteins that almost totally escaped detection by the experimental procedure used in this study.     

Green and red fluorescent proteins: photo- and thermally induced dynamics probed by site-selective spectroscopy and hole burning.

The cloning and expression of autofluorescent proteins in living matter, combined with modern imaging techniques, have thoroughly changed the world of bioscience. In particular, such proteins are widely used as genetically encoded labels to track the movement of proteins as reporters of cellular signals and to study protein-protein interactions by fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET). Their optical properties, however, are complex and it is important to understand these for the correct interpretation of imaging data and for the design of new fluorescent mutants. In this Minireview we start with a short survey of the field and then focus on the photo- and thermally induced dynamics of green and red fluorescent proteins. In particular, we show how fluorescence line narrowing and high-resolution spectral hole burning at low temperatures can be used to unravel the photophysics and photochemistry and shed light on the intricate electronic structure of these proteins.     

A comparison of phototautomerism in different sites of free-base porphin (H2P) in n-alkane crystals

Selective laser-induced phototautomerism of free-base porphin in different n-alkanes (n-hexane, n-heptane, n-octane, nnonane, n-decane, n-undecane and n-dodecane) has been used to identify tautomer splittings in a number of sites in polycrystalline samples at 2 K. Pairs or lines arising from the two molecular orientations in each site can be reversibly transformed into each other. In the odd n-alkanes the occupation of different sites was not dependent on the rate at which the samples were frozen, but in the even n-alkanes metastable sites were only occupied following rapid quenching.     

Charge-charge and cation-<Emphasis Type="Italic">π</Emphasis> interactions in ligand binding to G protein-coupled receptors

To study the importance of charge–charge and cation-π interactions for the binding of positively charged amine ligands to their receptors, the energies of interaction between [(CH₃)₄–N]⁺, [(CH₃)₃–NH]⁺, and [(CH₃)₄–NH₃]⁺ and acetate, as a model of Asp and Glu, and with benzene, as a model of aromatic side chains, were obtained at the MP2/aug-cc-pVDZ level of theory. The free energies of solvation in water were also calculated for the different amines. It was found that, although primary amines form stronger charge–charge interactions with acetate than tertiary or quaternary amines, the difference is not large enough to compensate their higher solvation energy. Quaternary amines show the weakest interaction with acetate. However, their alkyl groups can interact with various aromatic groups, enhancing ligand binding to the receptor. The analysis was completed with MD calculations on amine binding to the G protein-coupled receptors β₂AR and CCR5. The calculations on the model systems were found to be in good agreement with the simulations of the ligand-receptor complexes. Contribution to the Serafin Fraga Memorial Issue.     

Separation of the enantiomers of phenprocoumon and warfarin by high-performance liquid chromatography using a chiral stationary phase. Determination of the enantiomeric ratio of phenprocoumon in human plasma and urine

The enantiomers of the chiral coumarin-type anticoagulants phenprocoumon, warfarin and p-chlorophenprocoumon were separated by high-performance liquid chromatography on a chiral stationary phase (Nucleosil-Chiral 2) and normal-phase conditions. Chromatographic peak identification was performed with authentic reference compounds of the enantiomers and on-line UV spectra comparison. This method was applied to the determination of the enantiomeric ratio of phenprocoumon in plasma and urine extracts from patients under racemic drug therapy. The limit of detection (50 and 80 ng/ml) and precision (less than 5%) of the method are adequate for pharmacokinetic and enantioselective disposition studies, respectively, of phenprocoumon. No racemization was detected during the extraction procedures.     

Upper limit for thermal direct photon production in heavy-ion collisions at 60 and 200A·GeV

The production of direct photons has been investigated in reactions ofp and¹⁶O projectiles at 60 and 200A·GeV with C and Au nuclei. Photon and ⁰ spectra have been measured in the pseudorapidity range 1.52.1 for the transverse momentum region 0.4 GeV/cp _T 2.8 GeV/c employing the lead-glass spectrometer SAPHIR. An upper limit of 15% at the 90% confidence level for the direct photon signal relative to the neutral pion production is obtained from the comparison of measured photon spectra with Monte Carlo simulations of the hadronic background based on the reconstructed yield of ⁰ and mesons. Consequences for a possible phase transition to a quark-gluon plasma are discussed.