Photon number squeezing of ultrabroadband laser pulses generated by microstructure fibers

To the best of our knowledge, we demonstrate for the first time the generation of photon number squeezing by spectral filtering for ultrabroadband light generated by microstructure fibers at 800 nm. A maximum squeezing of 4.6 dB is observed, corresponding to 10.3 dB after correcting for detection losses. We numerically analyzed the quantum dynamics of ultrashort laser pulse propagation through optical fibers by solving a nonlinear quantum Schr?dinger equation that included Raman scattering, especially for the quantum correlation of photon number fluctuation among frequency modes in broadband pulses.     

Influence of ordering change on the optical and thermal properties of inflation polyethylene films

Changes of thermal diffusivity inside femtosecond laser-structured volumes as small as few percent were reliably determined (with standard deviation less than 1%) with miniaturized sensors. An increase of thermal diffusivity of a crystalline high-density polyethylene (HDPE) inflation films by 10-20% from the measured (1.16 ± 0.01) × 10⁻⁷ m² s⁻¹ value in regions not structured by femtosecond laser pulses is considerably larger than that of non-crystalline polymers, 0-3%. The origin of the change of thermal diffusivity are interplay between the laser induced disordering, voids’ formation, compaction, and changes in molecular orientation. It is shown that laser structuring can be used to modify thermal and optical properties. The birefringence and infrared spectroscopy with thermal imaging of CH₂ vibrations are confirming inter-relation between structural, optical, and thermal properties of the laser-structured crystalline HDPE inflation films. Birefringence modulation as high as Δn ∼ ± 1 × 10⁻³ is achieved with grating structures.     

Inelastic tunneling in a double quantum dot coupled to a bosonic environment

Coupling a quantum system to a bosonic environment always give rise to inelastic processes, which reduce the coherency of the system. We measure energy-dependent rates for inelastic tunneling processes in a fully controllable two-level system of a double quantum dot. The emission and absorption rates are well reproduced by Einstein's coefficients, which relate to the spontaneous emission rate. The inelastic tunneling rate can be comparable to the elastic tunneling rate if the boson occupation number becomes large. In the specific semiconductor double dot, the energy dependence of the inelastic rate suggests that acoustic phonons are coupled to the double dot piezoelectrically.     

DFT calculations for Au adsorption onto a reduced TiO2 (110) surface with the coexistence of Cl

Residual chlorines, which originate from HAuCl₄, enhance the aggregation of gold (Au) nanoparticles and clusters, preventing the generation of highly active supported Au catalysts. However, the detailed mechanism of residual-chlorine-promoted aggregation of Au is unknown. Herein to investigate this mechanism, density functional theory (DFT) calculations of Au and Cl adsorption onto a reduced rutile TiO₂ (110) surface were performed using a generalised gradient approximation Perdew, Burke, and Ernzerhof formula (GGA–PBE) functional and plane-wave basis. Although both Au and Cl atoms prefer to mono-absorb onto oxygen defect sites, Cl atoms have a stronger absorption onto a reduced TiO₂ (110) surface, abbreviated as rTiO₂ (110) in the following, than Au atoms. Additionally, co-adsorption of a Cl atom and a Au atom or Au nanorod onto a rTiO₂ surface was investigated; Cl adsorption onto an oxygen defect site weakens the interaction between a Au atom or Au nanorod and rTiO₂ (110) surface. The calculation results suggest that the depletion of interaction between Au and rTiO₂ surface is due to strong interaction between Cl atoms at oxygen defect sites and neighbouring bridging oxygen (O^B) atoms.     

Photothermal Oxidation of Cinnamyl Alcohol with Hydrogen Peroxide Catalyzed by Gold Nanoparticle/Antimony-Doped Tin Oxide Nanocrystals

Gold nanoparticles with different mean sizes were formed on antimony-doped tin oxide nanocrystals by the temperature-varied deposition-precipitation method (Au/ATO NCs). Au/ATO NCs possess strong absorption in the near-infrared region due to Drude excitation in addition to the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of AuNPs around 530 nm. Au/ATO NCs show thermally activated catalytic activity for the oxidation of cinnamyl alcohol to cinnamaldehyde by hydrogen peroxide. The catalytic activity increases with a decrease in the mean Au particle size (d_Au) at 5.3 nm≤d_Au≤8.2 nm. Light irradiation (λ_ex >660 nm, ∼0.5 sun) of Au/ATO NCs increases the rate of reaction by more than twice with ∼95 % selectivity. Kinetic analyses indicated that the striking enhancement of the reaction stems from the rise in the temperature near the catalyst surface of ∼30 K due to the photothermal effect of the ATO NCs.     

Size‐Dependence of the Activity of Gold Nanoparticle‐Loaded Titanium(IV) Oxide Plasmonic Photocatalyst for Water Oxidation

Mesoporous TiO₂ nanocrystalline film was formed on fluorine‐doped tin oxide electrode (TiO₂/FTO) and gold nanoparticles (NPs) of different sizes were loaded onto the surface with the loading amount kept constant (Au/TiO₂/FTO). Visible‐light irradiation (λ>430 nm) of the Au/TiO₂/FTO photoanode in a photoelectrochemical cell with the structure of photoanode|0.1 m NaClO4 aqueous solution|Ag/AgCl (reference electrode)|glassy carbon (cathode) leads to the oxidation of water to oxygen (O₂). We show that the visible‐light activity of the Au/TiO₂/FTO anode increases with a decrease in Au particle size (d) at 2.9≤d≤11.9 nm due to the enhancement of the charge separation and increasing photoelectrocatalytic activity.     

Facile cell patterning on an albumin-coated surface

Fabrication of micropatterned surfaces to organize and control cell adhesion and proliferation is an indispensable technique for cell-based technologies. Although several successful strategies for creating cellular micropatterns on substrates have been demonstrated, a complex multistep process and requirements for special and expensive equipment or materials limit their prevalence as a general experimental tool. To circumvent these problems, we describe here a novel facile fabrication method for a micropatterned surface for cell patterning by utilizing the UV-induced conversion of the cell adhesive property of albumin, which is the most abundant protein in blood plasma. An albumin-coated surface was prepared by cross-linking albumin with ethylene glycol diglycidyl ether and subsequent casting of the cross-linked albumin solution on the cell culture dish. While cells did not attach to the albumin surface prepared in this way, UV exposure renders the surface cell-adhesive. Thus, surface micropatterning was achieved simply by exposing the albumin-coated surface to UV light through a mask with the desired pattern. Mouse fibroblast L929 cells were inoculated on the patterned albumin substrates, and cells attached and spread in a highly selective manner according to the UV-irradiated pattern. Although detailed investigation of the molecular-level mechanism concerning the change in cell adhesiveness of the albumin-coated surface is required, the present results would give a novel facile method for the fabrication of cell micropatterned surfaces.     

Synthesis and characterization of bromonium ylides and their unusual ligand transfer reactions with N-heterocycles

Stable aliphatic bromonium ylides (RfSO2)2C--Br+C6H4-p-CF3 (Rf = CF3, CF3(CF2)3) have been synthesized and structurally characterized for the first time. X-ray crystallographic analyses indicated a ylide structure with an sp2 hybridization of the ylide carbanions and with little double-bond character for the ylidic bond. The bromonium ylides selectively undergo transfer of the aryl group to nitrogen heterocycles, such as pyridines, yielding N-arylpyridinium salts. This is in a marked contrast to the reaction of the iodonium ylides, which produces pyridinium ylides through transylidations.     

The first synthesis of a methano[60]fullerene with an electron-donating group at the methano-bridge carbon: synthesis and reaction of aminomethano[60]fullerene

[reaction: see text] Aminomethano[60]fullerene was synthesized for the first time as a trifluoromethanesulfonic acid salt by applying the Curtius rearrangement of azidocarbonylmethano[60]fullerene as the key reaction. Aminomethano[60]fullerene thus obtained was found to be able to react with various acyl chlorides to afford the corresponding amides.