Department of Physics Articles

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Spectral study of photon pairs generated in dispersion shifted fiber with a pulsed pump
(Optical Society of America, 2008-01-07) Li, Xiaoying; Ma, Xiaoxin; Ou, Zhe Yu; Yang, Lei; Cui, Liang; Yu, Daoyin; Physics, School of Science
Spectral correlation of photon pairs generated in dispersion shifted fiber by a pulsed pump is theoretically analyzed and experimentally investigated. We first calculate the spectral function of photon pairs according to the deduced two-photon state generated by spontaneous four wave mixing under the assumptions close to the real experimental conditions. We then experimentally study the spectral property of the signal and idler photon pairs generated in optical fiber by photon correlation measurements, and the experimental results agree with the calculation. The investigation is useful for developing fiber-based sources of entangled photon pairs and for studying multi-photon quantum interference with multiple photon pairs.
Biophysics of Zebrafish (Danio rerio) Sperm
(Elsevier, 2009-02) Hagedorn, M.; Ricker, J.; McCarthy, M.; Meyers, S.A.; Tiersch, T.R.; Varga, Z. M.; Kleinhans, F.W.; Physics, School of Science
In the past two decades, laboratories around the world have produced thousands of mutant, transgenic, and wild-type zebrafish lines for biomedical research. Although slow-freezing cryopreservation of zebrafish sperm has been available for 30 years, current protocols lack standardization and yield inconsistent post-thaw fertilization rates. Cell cryopreservation cannot be improved without basic physiological knowledge, which was lacking for zebrafish sperm. The first goal was to define basic cryobiological values for wild-type zebrafish sperm and to evaluate how modern physiological methods could aid in developing improved cryopreservation protocols. Coulter counting methods measured an osmotically inactive water fraction (Vb) of 0.37 ± 0.02 (SEM), an isosmotic cell volume (Vo) of 12.1 ± 0.2 μm3 (SEM), a water permeability (Lp) in 10% dimethyl sulfoxide of 0.021 ± 0.001(SEM) um/min/atm, and a cryoprotectant permeability (Ps) of 0.10 +/− 0.01 (SEM) × 10−3 cm/min. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy indicated that sperm membranes frozen without cryoprotectant showed damage and lipid reorganization, while those exposed to 10% glycerol demonstrated decreased lipid phase transition temperatures, which would stabilize the cells during cooling. The second goal was to determine the practicality and viability of shipping cooled zebrafish sperm overnight through the mail. Flow cytometry demonstrated that chilled fresh sperm can be maintained at 92% viability for 24 h at 0°C, suggesting that it can be shipped and exchanged between laboratories. Additional methods will be necessary to analyze and improve cryopreservation techniques and post-thaw fertility of zebrafish sperm. The present study is a first step to explore such techniques.
Effects of Lipid Interactions on Model Vesicle Engulfment by Alveolar Macrophages
(Elsevier B.V., 2014-02-04) Justice, Matthew J.; Petrusca, Daniela N.; Rogozea, Adriana L.; Williams, Justin A.; Schweitzer, Kelly S.; Petrache, Irina; Wassall, Stephen R.; Petrache, Horia I.; Department of Physics, School of Science
The engulfment function of macrophages relies on complex molecular interactions involving both lipids and proteins. In particular, the clearance of apoptotic bodies (efferocytosis) is enabled by externalization on the cell target of phosphatidylserine lipids, which activate receptors on macrophages, suggesting that (local) specific lipid-protein interactions are required at least for the initiation of efferocytosis. However, in addition to apoptotic cells, macrophages can engulf foreign bodies that vary substantially in size from a few nanometers to microns, suggesting that nonspecific interactions over a wide range of length scales could be relevant. Here, we use model lipid membranes (made of phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylserine, and ceramide) and rat alveolar macrophages to show how lipid bilayer properties probed by small-angle x-ray scattering and solid-state 2H NMR correlate with engulfment rates measured by flow cytometry. We find that engulfment of protein-free model lipid vesicles is promoted by the presence of phosphatidylserine lipids but inhibited by ceramide, in accord with a previous study of apoptotic cells. We conclude that the roles of phosphatidylserine and ceramide in phagocytosis is based, at least in part, on lipid-mediated modification of membrane physical properties, including interactions at large length scales as well as local lipid ordering and possible domain formation.
How does Water Pass through a Sugar Transporter?
(Elsevier B.V., 2014-03-18) Zhu, Fangqiang; Department of Physics, School of Science
Constraints On Spin Independent Forces At The ~100 Nm Range By Means Of A Micromechanical Oscillator
(2014-06) Decca, Ricardo S.; Physics, School of Science
Preliminary data from improvements made in our experimental setup are presented. Forces measured with our setup are presented and possible origins for the systematics observed are discussed. The observed signal is most likely induced by an impulsive oscillation of the motor.
Survivals of mouse oocytes approach 100% after vitrification in 3-fold diluted media and ultra-rapid warming by an IR laser pulse
(Elsevier, 2014-06) Jin, Bo; Kleinhans, F.W.; Mazur, Peter; Department of Physics, School of Science
Vitrification is the most sought after route to the cryopreservation of animal embryos and oocytes and other cells of medical, genetic, and agricultural importance. Current thinking is that successful vitrification requires that cells be suspended in and permeated by high concentrations of protective solutes and that they be cooled at very high rates to below − 100°C. We report here that neither of these beliefs holds for mouse oocytes. Rather, we find that if mouse oocytes are suspended in media that produce considerable osmotic dehydration before vitrification and are subsequently warmed at ultra high rates (10,000,000°C/min) achieved by a laser pulse, nearly 100% will survive even when cooled rather slowly and when the concentration of solutes in the medium is only 1/3rd of standard.
Single Molecule Conformational Memory Extraction: P5ab RNA Hairpin
(American Chemical Society, 2014-06-19) Pressé, Steve; Peterson, Jack; Lee, Julian; Elms, Phillip; MacCallum, Justin L.; Marqusee, Susan; Bustamante, Carlos; Dill, Ken; Department of Physics, School of Science
Extracting kinetic models from single molecule data is an important route to mechanistic insight in biophysics, chemistry, and biology. Data collected from force spectroscopy can probe discrete hops of a single molecule between different conformational states. Model extraction from such data is a challenging inverse problem because single molecule data are noisy and rich in structure. Standard modeling methods normally assume (i) a prespecified number of discrete states and (ii) that transitions between states are Markovian. The data set is then fit to this predetermined model to find a handful of rates describing the transitions between states. We show that it is unnecessary to assume either (i) or (ii) and focus our analysis on the zipping/unzipping transitions of an RNA hairpin. The key is in starting with a very broad class of non-Markov models in order to let the data guide us toward the best model from this very broad class. Our method suggests that there exists a folding intermediate for the P5ab RNA hairpin whose zipping/unzipping is monitored by force spectroscopy experiments. This intermediate would not have been resolved if a Markov model had been assumed from the onset. We compare the merits of our method with those of others.
Coset Group Construction of Multidimensional Number Systems
(2014-07) Petrache, Horia I
Extensions of real numbers in more than two dimensions, in particular quaternions and octonions, are finding applications in physics due to the fact that they naturally capture symmetries of physical systems. However, in the conventional mathematical construction of complex and multicomplex numbers multiplication rules are postulated instead of being derived from a general principle. A more transparent and systematic approach is proposed here based on the concept of coset product from group theory. It is shown that extensions of real numbers in two or more dimensions follow naturally from the closure property of finite coset groups adding insight into the utility of multidimensional number systems in describing symmetries in nature.
Interaction-driven capacitance in graphene electron-hole double layer in strong magnetic fields
(APS, 2015) Roostaei, Bahman; Department of Physics, School of Science
Fabrication of devices made by isolated graphene layers has opened up possibility of examining highly correlated states of electron systems in parts of their phase diagram that is impossible to access in their counterpart devices such as semiconductor heterostructures. An example of such states are graphene double monolayer electron-hole systems under strong magnetic fields where the separation between layers can be adjusted to be as small as one magnetic length with interlayer tunneling still suppressed. In those separations, it is known that correlations between electrons and holes are of crucial importance and must be included in determination of observable quantities. Here we report the results of our full numerical Hartree-Fock study of coherent and crystalline ground states of the interacting balanced electron-hole graphene systems in small and intermediate separations with each layer occupying up to four lowest lying Landau levels. We show that in the Hartree-Fock approximation the electrons and holes pair to form a homogeneous Bose-condensed (excitonic) state, while crystalline states of such exciton systems remain incoherent at intermediate layer separations. Our results of calculation of capacitance of such states as a function of interlayer separation and filling factor provides quantitative and qualitative signatures that can be examined in real experiments. We show that the capacitance of some crystallized states as well as uniform coherent states are significantly enhanced compared to geometrical values solely due to Coulomb interactions and quantum corrections.
Complete temporal mode analysis in pulse-pumped ﬁber-optical parametric ampliﬁer for continuous variable entanglement generation
(The Optical Society, 2015) Guo, Xueshi; Liu, Nannan; Li, Xiaoying; Ou, Z. Y.; Department of Physics, School of Science
Mode matching plays an important role in measuring the continuous variable entanglement. For the signal and idler twin beams generated by a pulse pumped fiber optical parametric amplifier (FOPA), the spatial mode matching is automatically achieved in single mode fiber, but the temporal mode property is complicated because it is highly sensitive to the dispersion and the gain of the FOPA. We study the temporal mode structure and derive the input-output relation for each temporal mode of signal and idler beams after decomposing the joint spectral function of twin beams with the singular-value decomposition method. We analyze the measurement of the quadrature-amplitude entanglement, and find mode matching between the multi-mode twin beams and the local oscillators of homodyne detection systems is crucial to achieve a high degree of entanglement. The results show that the noise contributed by the temporal modes nonorthogonal to local oscillator may be much larger than the vacuum noise, so the mode mis-match can not be accounted for by merely introducing an effective loss. Our study will be useful for developing a source of high quality continuous variable entanglement by using the FOPA.

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