Single chain force spectroscopy - Reading the sequence of HP protein models

We study the elastic properties of single A/B random copolymer chains, with a specific sequence and use them as theoretical model for so called HP proteins. HP proteins carry hydrophilic (P) and hydrophobic (H) monomers. We predict a rich structure in the force-extension relations which can be attributed to the information in the sequence. The variational method is used to probe local minima on the path of stretching and releasing for the chain molecules. At a given force, we find multiple configurations which are separated by energy barriers. A collapsed globular configuration consists of several domains which unravel cooperatively. Upon stretching, the unfolding path shows a stepwise pattern corresponding to the unfolding of each domain. While releasing, several cores can be created simultaneously in the middle of the chain, resulting in a different path of collapse. The long-range interactions and stiffness of the chain simplify the potential landscape given by the disorder in sequence. Received 5 March 2002 / Received in final form 16 May 2002 Published online 13 August 2002     

Compact Single-Stage Femtosecond Multipass Ti：Sapphire Amplifier at 1 kHz with High Beam Quality

A compact femtosecond Ti：sapphire amplifier system is reported using single-stage multipass configuration with high beam quality. A high dispersion glass stretcher and a pair of double prisms for compression are introduced based on broadband femtosecond seed pulses. The non-grating-based pulse stretcher and compressor are advantageous to increase high beam quality and to reduce the high-order dispersion. A Gaussian filter is used to reduce the gain narrowing effect in amplification. The compact femtosecond Ti：sapphire nine-pass amplifier delivers pulses with a duration of 26 fs and an energy of 800μJ at 7mJ pumping pulses energy at I kHz. The 1-kHz femtosecond amplifier with high beam quality and high stability is very suitable for ultrafast physics research applications, such as attosecond science, ultra-precision micromachining, and THz wave generation.     

Paramagnetic defects in BaTiO3 and their role in light-induced charge transport — Optical studies

On the basis of a previous identification of paramagnetic defects in nominally undoped as grown BaTiO₃ single crystals, we have investigated the changes of the concentrations of these centers and their optical absorptions under illumination with light of varying wavelengths. The most pronounced charge transfers occur by hole ionization of Fe⁴⁺ and — to a lesser extent — of Cr⁵⁺ and Cr⁴⁺. At low temperatures the created holes are trapped in the form of O^–-ions next to Al³⁺ or unknown acceptor defects. Corresponding Fe⁴⁺ and O^– absorptions have been identified.     

Adsorption on stepped substrates

An analysis is given of the behavior of an interface above a stepped substrate in the presence of an external pinning potential for the lattice solid-on-solid (SOS) interface model in 2D. Step-free energy including step-step interaction free energy is calculated, for large step separation. It is found it vanishes at temperatures lower thanT _w (wetting transition temperature), which is different from the case having only one step on a substrate where, as it is well known, step-free energy vanishes at the wetting transition.     

Subpicosecond pulse generation in synchronously pumped and hybrid ring dye lasers

Subpicosecond pulse generation has been examined in synchronously pumped mode-locked ring dye laser systems. These include hybrid and composite absorber/gain media arrangements as well as a simple synchronous cavity. The shortest pulses recorded were 0.3 ps for the hybrid system, and this has been shown to be critically dependent on the positioning of the absorber jet in the centre of the cavity to better than 50 m. Stable operation for subpicosecond pulse generation has been achieved in the ring configuration with greater wavelength tunability and higher average power conversion efficiency than with conventional cavity arrangements.     

Incompatibility networks as models of scale-free small-world graphs

We make a mapping from Sierpinski fractals to a new class of networks, the incompatibility networks, which are scale-free, small-world, disassortative, and maximal planar graphs. Some relevant characteristics of the networks such as degree distribution, clustering coefficient, average path length, and degree correlations are computed analytically and found to be peculiarly rich. The method of network representation can be applied to some real-life systems making it possible to study the complexity of real networked systems within the framework of complex network theory.     

Negative refraction of complex lattices of dielectric cylinders

Some photonic crystals (PCs) consisting of complex lattices of dielectric cylinders can have an effective refraction index (neff$n_{\mathrm{eff}}$) of −1. Subwavelength imaging by a slab of a honeycomb PC of dielectric cylinders with neff=−1$n_{\mathrm{eff}}=-1$ is investigated and an open resonator with a quality factor higher than 3000 is designed with the same PC. Air–PC interfaces with low reflection are also used for the slab lens and open resonator.     

Volatility return intervals analysis of the Japanese market

We investigate scaling and memory effects in return intervals between price volatilities above a certain threshold q for the Japanese stock market using daily and intraday data sets. We find that the distribution of return intervals can be approximated by a scaling function that depends only on the ratio between the return interval τ and its mean 〈τ〉. We also find memory effects such that a large (or small) return interval follows a large (or small) interval by investigating the conditional distribution and mean return interval. The results are similar to previous studies of other markets and indicate that similar statistical features appear in different financial markets. We also compare our results between the period before and after the big crash at the end of 1989. We find that scaling and memory effects of the return intervals show similar features although the statistical properties of the returns are different.     

Spontaneous decay of an excited atom placed near a rectangular plate

Using the Born expansion of the Green tensor, we consider the spontaneous decay rate of an excited atom placed in the vicinity of a rectangular plate. We discuss the limitations of the commonly used simplifying assumption that the plate extends to infinity in the lateral directions and examine the effects of the atomic dipole moment orientation, atomic position, and plate boundary and thickness on the atomic decay rate. In particular, it is shown that due to the plate finite size, the spontaneous decay may be inhibited even when the atom is situated very close to the surface, and that in the boundary region, the spontaneous decay rate can be strongly modified.