Fluorescence excitation spectroscopy of Xenon doped Neon clusters: size and site effects,and cluster melting

Electronic excitations of Xe atoms and Xe₂ molecules embedded in free Ne clusters are studied with time resolved fluorescence excitation spectroscopy. Several distinct absorption bands blueshifted relativ to the first atomic resonance line of Xe are observed and are attributed to Xe or Xe₂ located in different sites. For Ne clusters containing less than 300 atoms only interior sites are observed indicating that small Ne clusters are liquid-like.     

Cluster aggregation: a new method for producing atomic and molecular clusters

A new method for the production of cold free clusters is presented. A beam of large rare gas clusters is passed through a low pressure atomic gas. The gas atoms are picked up by the rare gas clusters whereby they condense. A complete evaporation of rare gas atoms from the newly formed clusters then follows once the number of captured particles becomes sufficiently large. The method is demonstrated for Xe clusters with size up to 500 atoms per cluster but it should work for most materials, including the refractory materials.     

The rotational spectrum and molecular parameters of ClO in the v=0 and v=1 states

The $\text{J =}\text{9}\text{2}\text{←}\text{7}\text{2}$, ${}^2\text{Π}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>3</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}$ and ${}^2\text{Π}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}$, ground vibrational state transitions of ³⁵ClO and ³⁷ClO and the ${}^2\text{Π}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}$, excited vibrational state transitions of ³⁵ClO have been observed in the 164–167 GHz region. Additional measurements have also been made on the $\text{J =}\text{3}\text{2}\text{←}\text{1}\text{2}$ and $\text{J =}\text{5}\text{2}\text{←}\text{3}\text{2}$ transitions of both the ground and excited vibrational states. All measurements were made using millimeter oscillators which were phase locked to harmonics of a Hewlett-Packard microwave spectrometer's X-band source. Λ-doubling splitting of a few ${}^2\text{Π}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}$ transitions was resolved.When magnetic and nuclear quadrupole hyperfine terms off-diagonal in J and $\text{Ω}$ in the Hund's case (a) representation were included in addition to the usual diagonal terms, an excellent fit to all of our observed transitions resulted. The most significant change from previously determined parameters is the centrifugal distortion constant D for which the values, D₀ = 0.03972(26) MHz for ³⁵ClO, D₀ = 0.03888(32) MHz for ³⁷ClO and D₁ = 0.0395(21) MHz for ³⁵ClO are obtained. Values of 1.56959(1) Å for the equilibrium bond length and 854(7) cm^?1 for the equilibrium vibrational frequency are derived from the measured spectra. In addition, values for the Λ-doubling constant β_p and the quadrupole coupling constant eQq₂ were derived from the measured spectra for the first time.     

Phanerochaete mutants with enhanced ligninolytic activity

In addition to lignin, the white rot fungusPhanerochaete chrysosporium has the ability to degrade a wide spectrum of recalcitrant organopollutants in soils and aqueous media. Most of the organic compounds are degraded under ligninolytic conditions with the involvement of the extracellular enzymes, lignin peroxidases, and manganese-dependent peroxidases, which are produced as secondary metabolites triggered by conditions of nutrient starvation (e.g., nitrogen limitation). The fungus and its enzymes can thus provide alternative technologies for bioremediation, biopulping, biobleaching, and other industrial applications. The efficiency and effectiveness of the fungus can be enhanced by increasing production and secretion of the important enzymes in large quantities and as primary metabolites under enriched conditions. One way this can be achieved is through isolation of mutants that are deregulated, or are hyperproducers or supersecretors of key enzymes under enriched conditions. Through UV-light and γ-ray mutagenesis, we have isolated a variety of mutants, some of which produce key enzymes of the ligninolytic system under high-nitrogen growth conditions. One of the mutants, 76UV, produced 272 U of lignin peroxidases enzyme activity/L after 9 d under high nitrogen (although the parent strain does not produce this enzyme under these conditions). The mutant and the parent strains produced up to 54 and 62 U/L, respectively, of the enzyme activity under lownitrogen growth conditions during this period. In some experiments, the mutant showed 281 U/L of enzyme activity under high nitrogen after 17 d.

     

Size-dependent core-level spectroscopy of free neutral clusters

Studies of the electronic and geometric structure of free clusters are presented to highlight the application of core-level spectroscopy using synchrotron radiation to cluster physics. The study of electronic structure deals with the excitation of the C 1s electron to the Rydberg states of the molecule in CH₄ clusters and demonstrates the gradual evolution of the surface and bulk-specific spectral features with cluster size. A second study investigates the K-edge excitations in Ne clusters and is concerned with extracting structural information from the X-rays Absorption Near-Edge Structure (XANES).