Laser ablation of silicon in water with nanosecond and femtosecond pulses

We describe laser ablation of Si under water by 5 ns, 355 nm and 100 fs, 800 nm pulses. Compared to that in air, an approximately twofold improvement in the ablation rate is found in water for femtosecond and nanosecond pulses. For higher laser irradiances, the plasma that forms at the water-air interface hampers further improvement of the ablation rate. We investigated the enhanced ablation process in water and found that the cavity-confinement geometry that increases the laser energy coupling to the target and allows more energy to be transferred to the cavity sidewalls plays an important role in the escalated material removal process. In addition, we show that the water layer that effectively reduces the oxidation and redeposition of the ablated debris is also responsible for improvements in the ablation process.     

Optimal symmetric Tardos traitor tracing schemes

For the Tardos traitor tracing scheme, we show that by combining the symbol-symmetric accusation function of ?kori? et al. with the improved analysis of Blayer and Tassa we get further improvements. Our construction gives codes that are up to four times shorter than Blayer and Tassa’s, and up to two times shorter than the codes from ?kori? et al. Asymptotically, we achieve the theoretical optimal codelength for Tardos’ distribution function and the symmetric score function. For large coalitions, our codelengths are asymptotically about 4.93% of Tardos’ original codelengths, which also improves upon results from Nuida et al.     

Oriented (Local) Electric Fields Drive the Millionfold Enhancement of the H-Abstraction Catalysis Observed for Synthetic Metalloenzyme Analogues

This contribution follows the recent remarkable catalysis observed by Groves et al. in hydrogen-abstraction reactions by a) an oxoferryl porphyrin radical-cation complex [Por^⋅+Fe^IV(O)L_ax] and b) a hydroxoiron porphyrazine ferric complex [PyPzFe^III(OH)L_ax], both of which involve positively charged substituents on the outer circumference of the respective macrocyclic ligands. These charge-coronated complexes are analogues of the biologically important Compound I (Cpd I) and synthetic hydroxoferric species, respectively. We demonstrate that the observed enhancement of the H-abstraction catalysis for these systems is a purely electrostatic effect, elicited by the local charges embedded on the peripheries of the respective macrocyclic ligands. Our findings provide new insights into how electrostatics can be employed to tune the catalytic activity of metalloenzymes and can thus contribute to the future design of new and highly efficient hydrogen-abstraction catalysts.     

The Influence of UiO-66 Metal–Organic Framework Structural Defects on Adsorption and Separation of Hexane Isomers

In this work, adsorption properties of the UiO-66 metal–organic framework were investigated, with particular emphasis on the influence of structural defects. A series of UiO-66 samples were synthesized and characterized using a wide range of experimental techniques. Type I adsorption isotherms for low-temperature adsorption of N₂ and Ar showed that micropore volume and specific surface area significantly increase with the number of defects. Adsorption of hexane isomers in UiO-66 was studied by means of quasi-equilibrated temperature-programmed desorption and adsorption (QE-TPDA) experimental and Monte Carlo simulation techniques. QE-TPDA profiles revealed that only defect-free UiO-66 exhibits distinct two adsorption states. This technique also yielded high-quality adsorption isobars that were successfully recreated using Grand-Canonical Monte Carlo molecular simulations, which, however, required refinement of the existing force fields. The calculations demonstrated the detailed mechanism of adsorption and separation of hexane isomers in the UiO-66 structure. The preferred tetrahedral cages provide suitable voids for bulky molecules, which is the reason for unusual “reverse” selectivity of UiO-66 towards di-branched alkanes. Interconnection of the tetrahedral cavities due to missing organic linkers greatly reduces the selectivity of the defected material.     

Asymptotic Behaviour near Finite-Time Extinction for the Fast Diffusion Equation

We study the Cauchy problem for the fast diffusion equation when and . For a class of nonnegative radially symmetric finite-mass solutions, which vanish identically at a given time , we show that their asymptotic behaviour as is described by a uniquely determined self-similar solution of the second kind: , where and and . Here is determined from a nonlinear eigenvalue problem involving an ordinary differential equation for the function . Special attention is paid to the case when . Then and the function can be found explicity. The proof is based on a geometric Lyapunov-type argument and comparison arguments based on the intersection properties of the solution graphs. (Accepted March 4, 1996)     

Spectroelectrochemical investigation of intramolecular and interfacial electron-transfer rates reveals differences between nitrite reductase at rest and during turnover

A combined fluorescence and electrochemical method is described that is used to simultaneously monitor the type-1 copper oxidation state and the nitrite turnover rate of a nitrite reductase (NiR) from Alcaligenes faecalis S-6. The catalytic activity of NiR is measured electrochemically by exploiting a direct electron transfer to fluorescently labeled enzyme molecules immobilized on modified gold electrodes, whereas the redox state of the type-1 copper site is determined from fluorescence intensity changes caused by Fo?rster resonance energy transfer (FRET) between a fluorophore attached to NiR and its type-1 copper site. The homotrimeric structure of the enzyme is reflected in heterogeneous interfacial electron-transfer kinetics with two monomers having a 25-fold slower kinetics than the third monomer. The intramolecular electron-transfer rate between the type-1 and type-2 copper site changes at high nitrite concentration (≥520 μM), resulting in an inhibition effect at low pH and a catalytic gain in enzyme activity at high pH. We propose that the intramolecular rate is significantly reduced in turnover conditions compared to the enzyme at rest, with an exception at low pH/nitrite conditions. This effect is attributed to slower reduction rate of type-2 copper center due to a rate-limiting protonation step of residues in the enzyme's active site, gating the intramolecular electron transfer.     

An equation of state for the isotropic phase of linear,partially flexible and fully flexible tangent hard-sphere chain fluids

A new equation of state is developed that accurately describes the isotropic phase behaviour of linear, partially flexible and fully flexible tangent hard-sphere chain fluids and their mixtures. The equation of state is based on the equation of state of Liu and Hu [H. Liu and Y. Hu, Fluid Phase Equilibr. 122, 75 (1996)] for fully flexible chain fluids. The effect of molecular flexibility is described by a pure-component parameter that is introduced in the theory at the level of the cavity correlation function of next-to-nearest neighbour segments in a chain molecule. The equation of state contains a total of three adjustable model constants. The extension to partially flexible- and linear chain fluids is based on a refitting of the first model constant to numerical data of the second virial coefficient of partially flexible and linear tangent hard-sphere chain fluids. The numerical data were obtained from an analytical approximation for the pair-excluded volume. The other two parameters were adjusted to molecular simulation data for the pressure of linear tangent hard-sphere chain fluids. For both, pure component systems and mixtures of chains of variable flexibility, the pressure and second virial coefficient obtained from the equation of state, are in excellent agreement with the results from Monte Carlo simulations. A significant improvement to TPT1, TPT2, generalised Flory-dimer theory and scaled particle theory is observed.