Small Noncytotoxic Carbon Nano‐Onions: First Covalent Functionalization with Biomolecules

Small carbon nano‐onions (CNOs, 6–8 shells) were prepared in high yield and functionalized with carboxylic groups by chemical oxidation. After functionalization these nanostructures were soluble in aqueous solutions. 3‐(4,5‐dimethylthiazol‐2‐yl)‐5‐(3‐carboxymethoxyphenyl)‐2‐(4‐sulfophenyl)‐2 tetrazolium (MTS) tests showed excellent cytocompatibility of all CNOs analyzed at 30 and 300 μg mL^?1, so these carbon nanostructures can be safely used for biological applications. The first covalent functionalization of oxidized CNOs (ox‐CNOs) with biomolecules, by using biotin–avidin interactions is reported here. Multilayers were prepared on a gold surface by layer‐by‐layer assembly and the process was monitored by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Covalent binding of molecules to the short amine‐terminated organosulfur monolayers was assessed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy using total attenuated reflactance mode (FT‐IR/HATR).     

The Influence of Temperature on Coumarin 153 Fluorescence Kinetics

The influence of temperature varied in the range 183 K–323 K on the fluorescence quantum yield, fluorescence lifetime, absorption and emission transition moments and non-radiative deactivation rate was determined for the well known and largely used dye Coumarin 153, dissolved in 1-chloropropane. The Kennard-Stepanov relation connecting the absorption and emission spectra was used to check for the presence of more than one absorbing/emitting species and to investigate whether intramolecular vibrational redistribution completes in the C153 excited S ₁ state before the emission takes place. The emission spectrum corresponding to S ₁→S ₀ transition, was fitted at each temperature to the model function including the information on the dye vibrational modes coupling. In this way the displacement in equilibrium distance for the most active vibrational mode was determined for C153 in S ₁ and in S ₀. Using the temperature dependence of the fluorescence decay time and quantum yield, the non-radiative deactivation rate was determined. Its temperature dependence was compared to that calculated using the theoretical model with the most active vibrational mode displacement values taken from steady-state spectra analysis. The somewhat surprising dependence of the fluorescence decay time and quantum yield on temperature was related to non-trivial coupling between low-frequency vibrational modes of C153 in the excited and ground states.     

Laser frequency stabilization by magnetically assisted rotation spectroscopy

We present a method of Doppler-free laser frequency stabilization based on magnetically assisted rotation spectroscopy (MARS) which combines the Doppler-free velocity-selective optical pumping (VSOP) and magnetic rotation spectroscopy. The stabilization is demonstrated for the atomic rubidium transitions at 780 nm. The proposed method is largely independent of stray magnetic fields and does not require any modulation of the laser frequency. Moreover, the discussed method allows one to choose between locking the laser exactly to the line center, or with a magnetically-controlled shift to an arbitrary frequency detuned by up to several natural linewidths. This feature is useful in many situations, e.g. for laser cooling experiments. In addition to presenting the principle of the method, its theoretical background and peculiarities inherent to the repopulation VSOP are discussed.     

EPR evidence of antiferromagnetic ordering in single‐layer graphene

We report electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) evidence of the antiferromagnetic ordering in pristine single‐layer graphene. Temperature dependences of the parameters of EPR spectra obtained for vacuum‐processed samples were studied within the temperature range of 4.2–300 K. Our experiment has confirmed recent theoretical predictions that in single‐layer graphene the carrier‐mediated exchange interaction leads to antiferromagnetic coupling. We note some quantitative discrepancies between the theory and experimental findings and discuss their origins. (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Modifying of etching anisotropy of silicon substrates by surface active agents

The influence of alcohol additives on etch rate anisotropy of Si(hkl) planes has been studied. The etching processes were carried out in 3 and 5 M KOH aqueous solutions saturated and non-saturated with alcohols. Isopropanol, 1-propanol and tert-butanol were examined. It has been showed that the etching process cannot be controlled only by the surface tension of the solution. Saturation of the etching solution with alcohols modifies etch rate anisotropy, lowering the ratio of the etch rate of (110) and vicinal planes to the etch rate of (100) plane. The morphology of Si(hkl) planes etched in 3 M KOH solution saturated with tert-butyl alcohol has been studied in detail. Smooth (331) and (221) planes have been achieved in this solution. The (100) plane turned out to be densely covered by hillocks, opposite to the (100) plane etched in weak-alkaline solution saturated with isopropanol. To explain this phenomenon, the mechanism of hillocks formation on Si(100) surface has been proposed.     

Optical and microstructural properties of self-assembled InAs quantum structures in silicon

The InAs quantum structures were formed in silicon by sequential ion implantation and subsequent thermal annealing. Two kinds of crystalline InAs nanostructures were successfully synthesized: nanodots (NDs) and nanopyramids (NPs). The peaks at 215 and 235 cm^?1, corresponding to the transverse optical (TO) and longitudinal optical (LO) InAs single-phonon modes, respectively, are clearly visible in the Raman spectra. Moreover, the PL band at around 1.3 µm, due to light emission from InAs NDs with an average diameter 7±2 nm, was observed. The InAs NPs were found only in samples annealed for 20 ms at temperatures ranging from 1000 up to 1200°C. The crystallinity and pyramidal shape of InAs quantum structures were confirmed by HRTEM and XRD techniques. The average size of the NPs is 50 nm base and 50 nm height, and they are oriented parallel to the Si (001) planes. The lattice parameter of the NPs increases from 6.051 to 6.055 Å with the annealing temperature increasing from 1100 to 1200°C, due to lattice relaxation. Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) shows almost stoichiometric composition of the InAs NPs.     

Continuum limit of overlap valence quarks on a twisted mass sea

We study a lattice QCD mixed action with overlap valence quarks on two flavours of Wilson maximally twisted mass sea quarks. Employing three different matching conditions to relate both actions to each other, we investigate the continuum limit by using three values of the lattice spacing ranging from a≈0.05 fm$a\approx 0.05\text{fm}$ to 0.08 fm$0.08\text{fm}$. A particular emphasis is put on the effect on physical observables of the topological zero modes appearing in the valence overlap operator. We estimate the region of parameter space where the contribution from these zero modes is sufficiently small such that their effects can be safely controlled and a restoration of unitarity of the mixed action in the continuum limit is reached.     

Cramér transform and t-entropy

t-entropy is the convex conjugate of the logarithm of the spectral radius of a weighted composition operator (WCO). Let \(X\) be a nonnegative random variable. We show how the Cramér transform with respect to the spectral radius of WCO is expressed by the t-entropy and the Cramér transform of the given random variable \(X\) .     

Tail asymptotics of supremum of certain Gaussian processes over threshold dependent random intervals

Let {X(t),t ≥ 0} be a centered Gaussian process and let γ be a non-negative constant. In this paper we study the asymptotics of \(\mathbb {P} \left \{\underset {t\in [0,\mathcal {T}/u^{\gamma }]}\sup X(t)>u\right \}\) as \(u\rightarrow \infty \) , with \(\mathcal {T}\) an independent of X non-negative random variable. As an application, we derive the asymptotics of finite-time ruin probability of time-changed fractional Brownian motion risk processes.