Temperature Response of PNIPAM Derivatives at Planar Surfaces: Comparison between Polyelectrolyte Multilayers and Adsorbed Microgels

Two strategies for the design of thermosensitive coatings based on poly‐N‐isopropyl acrylamide (PNIPAM) derivatives are presented: 1) polyelectrolyte multilayers containing a diblock copolymer with a large PNIPAM block and 2) adsorption of PNIPAM microgels. The multilayers show only a small but irreversible response to the increase of outer temperature due to the strong interdigitation between the charged part and the temperature‐sensitive block, while the adsorbed microgels show a pronounced and reversible response. It will be shown that the microgel number density can be easily controlled at the substrate. The swelling and shrinking of two extremes in density are characterized: densely packed microgels, which are considered as a film, and individual microgels, which are able to swell and shrink also lateral to the surface.     

Measurement of the mean free path of edge magnetoplasmons revealed in the spectra of magnetic oscillations of photovoltage in a two-dimensional electron system under microwave radiation

In the spectrum of photovoltage oscillations that are periodic with respect to the magnetic field and appear on Hall structures under microwave irradiation, two frequency components of oscillations are observed and analyzed. The appearance of these two frequencies in photovoltage oscillations is explained by the existence of two trajectories of edge magnetoplasmons and by the effects of the interference of collective excitations on these trajectories. The effects of the temperature, microwave radiation frequency, and magnetic field strength on the mean free path of edge magnetoplasmons are analyzed.     

Collective magnetoplasma excitations in two-dimensional electron rings

The spectra of magnetoplasma excitations in two-dimensional electron disks and rings are studied by optical detection of resonance microwave absorption. For ring-shaped structures, two types of edge magnetoplasma modes localized along the inner and outer boundaries of the ring are observed. It is shown that the interaction between these modes leads to a strong modification of their magnetic-field dependences as compared to disks. In addition to the longitudinal edge magnetoplasma excitations, transverse plasma modes associated with the electron density oscillations along the ring radius are revealed. The spectra of magnetoplasma excitations are calculated in terms of the electrodynamic theory for both ring-shaped and disk-shaped structures. The classification of all modes of collective magnetoplasma excitations observed in the experiment is performed on the basis of the comparison between experimental and theoretical results.     

A New Multiresponsive Drug Delivery System using Smart Nanogels

This paper addresses the synthesis and characterization of a novel temperature‐ and pH‐responsive nanogel system based on poly(vinylcaprolactam‐co‐2‐dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate) [P(VCL‐co‐DMAEMA)] by using a surfactant‐free emulsion polymerization procedure for the multiresponsive drug delivery of hydrophobic drugs. The effects of solvent, monomer, pH, and temperature were studied to tailor the average particle hydrodynamic diameters and the polydispersity index of the final particles. According to dynamic light‐scattering measurements, the obtained nanogels show a narrow particle‐size distribution and their hydrodynamic diameters can be varied from 81 to 368 nm. The nanogels display a re‐entrant phase‐transition state, and the equilibrium volume swelling ratio of the nanogels decreases drastically down to 47 °C and then increases up to 65 °C. In addition, the nanogels show pH‐dependent behavior. They exhibit a maximum size at pH 5.0. Rhodamine B (RhB) was chosen as a model compound for drug loading and release studies from P(VCL‐co‐DMAEMA) on the basis of particles in different phosphate buffer solutions at different temperatures. The temperature/pH‐dependent cumulative release and ultrasound‐enhanced pulsatile release properties were investigated for RhB‐loaded nanogels for long‐term and one‐shot delivery. The nanogels display efficient delivery for both long‐term and one‐shot delivery systems. We provide here a proof of concept for the novel use of multiresponsive nanogels having an overall size below 200 nm as a cargo system for hydrophobic drugs and for controlled release mediated by temperature/pH and ultrasound.     

Charged and neutral excitonic complexes in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells

The temperature and magnetic-field dependences of the recombination line of multiparticle excitonic complexes in undoped and lightly doped GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells are investigated. These dependences have previously been attributed to free charged excitons (trions). It is shown that this line corresponds to a bound state of a complex, specifically, to an exciton bound on a neutral donor in a barrier. It is found that as the temperature or pump power is raised, there appear in the recombination spectrum not only a cyclotron replica shifted downward in energy but also a replica which is symmetrically shifted upwards in energy by an amount equal to the cyclotron energy and which is due to emission from an excited state of an impurity complex. The behavior of the cyclotron replicas is studied as a function of the electron density and temperature. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 66, No. 11, 730–735 (10 December 1997)     

Raman spectroscopy of magnetoplasma excitations in a system of two-dimensional electrons in inclined and parallel magnetic fields

The dispersion of magnetoplasma excitations of two-dimensional electrons in oblique and parallel magnetic fields is investigated by the method of Raman scattering of light. The inclination of the field is used to distinguish the signals due to volume hot luminescence from the signals due to Raman scattering by two-dimensional electrons. The dependence of the magnetoplasmon energy on the inclination angle of the field is measured for different momentum transfers. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 63, No. 12, 974–978 (25 June 1996)     

Universal magnetoluminescence kinetics in magnetically frozen 2D electron systems

The kinetics of recombination of electrons and acceptor-bound holes in AlGaAs-GaAs heterostructure obey a single-exponential decay in the liquid phase of 2D electrons, whereas localization gives rise to a broad spectrum of recombination rates, especially in the magnetic freeze-out regime. This results in a power-law dependence I(t)∝(τ/t)^α in the tail of the recombination kinetics, with the universal exponent α=(1−ν)⁻¹ at ν<1 for all the samples examined experimentally in this work. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 63, No. 2, 118–122 (25 January 1996) Published in English in the original Russian journal. Edited by Steve Torstveit.