Time-resolved spectroscopy of non-thermal carrier dynamics in GaN
Current Applied Physics 6:5 (2006) 909-912
Abstract:
The dynamics of carriers in GaN epilayers is investigated using femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy. After the residual chirp on the continuum probe is removed, the normalized difference spectra (NDS) for different probe energies are synchronized, recovering the full time resolution of our laser pulse. Our Monte-Carlo simulation agrees well with the unchirped NDS spectrum, which shows the development of the carrier distribution at early times, where phonon satellites are seen, together with a strong non-thermal electron distribution in the region of the LO-phonon energy arising from the remarkably strong electron-LO phonon interaction. Employing a new technique which involves the integration of the normalized NDS multiplied by the corresponding energy, a measure of the mean energy of the carriers in non-thermal states is obtained. By comparing the time-dependent energy loss with the theoretical energy loss rate, we estimate the effective temperature of the phonon modes as well as the population of phonons. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Beta-sheet structured oligomers of Alzheimer's beta-amyloid peptide perturb phosphatidylcholine model membranes
FEBS J 273 (2006) 240-240
Differential stiffness and lipid mobility in the leaflets of purple membranes.
Biophys J 90:6 (2006) 2075-2085
Abstract:
Purple membranes (PM) are two-dimensional crystals formed by bacteriorhodopsin and a variety of lipids. The lipid composition and density in the cytoplasmic (CP) leaflet differ from those of the extracellular (EC) leaflet. A new way of differentiating the two sides of such asymmetric membranes using the phase signal in alternate contact atomic force microscopy is presented. This method does not require molecular resolution and is applied to study the stiffness and intertrimer lipid mobility in both leaflets of the PM independently over a broad range of pH and salt concentrations. PM stiffens with increasing salt concentration according to two different regimes. At low salt concentration, the membrane Young's normal modulus grows quickly but differentially for the EC and CP leaflets. At higher salt concentration, both leaflets behave similarly and their stiffness converges toward the native environment value. Changes in pH do not affect PM stiffness; however, the crystal assembly is less pronounced at pH > or = 10. Lipid mobility is high in the CP leaflet, especially at low salt concentration, but negligible in the EC leaflet regardless of pH or salt concentration. An independent lipid mobility study by solid-state NMR confirms and quantifies the atomic force microscopy qualitative observations.Time-resolved spectroscopy of non-thermal carrier dynamics in GaN
CURRENT APPLIED PHYSICS 6:5 (2006) 909-912
Ultrafast kinetic inductance samplers
P SOC PHOTO-OPT INS 6373 (2006) U157-U164