Optical Sum Frequency Generation Image of Rice Grains

We observed optical sum frequency generation (SFG) images of cross-sections of glutinous rice grains, in order to test a possibility of the SFG microscopy as a tool for monitoring polysaccharide species in rice grains. The SFG response in the CH vibration range was the most intense in the crush cell layer at the edge of the endosperm adjacent to the embryo probably due to optical reflection and scattering effectby the rugged dielectric structure of the crush cell layer. The SFG spectra as a function of the infrared wavelength depended on the measurement position in the endosperm. The SFG results were compared with those by Raman and infrared spectroscopies for the same samples.

Optical Sum Frequency Generation Spectroscopy of Cracked Non-Glutinous Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Kernels

In order to study the correlation between the cracking of rice (Oryza sativa L.) kernels and the molecular structure of the amylopectin in them, we attempted optical sum frequency generation (SFG) spectroscopy in the C-H stretching vibration region for normal and cracked japonica non-glutinous rice kernels. The samples were Koshihikari and Nipponbare. In Nipponbare, the width of the SFG spectrum peak at 2915 cm- 1 of the cracked rice kernels was broader than that of the normal ones, while for Koshihikari there was no clear difference. The width of the 2915 cm- 1 peak is suggested to originate from the variety of the higher-order structure of the saccharide chains in amylopectin. Although this is a tentative result, this method is shown to have a potential of serving for preventing the cracking of the rice kernels.

Ordering effects of cholesterol on sphingomyelin monolayers investigated by high-resolution broadband sum-frequency generation vibrational spectroscopy

This report investigated the ordering of the alky chain of sphingomyelin （SMs） monolayers induced by cholesterol at the air/water interface using high-resolution broadband sum frequency generation vibrational spectroscopy （HR-BB-SFG-VS）. The SFG spectra of the three nature sphingomyelin/cholesterol mixture monolayers with two concentrations of the cholesterol at the air/water interface are performed under different polarization combination. A new resolved CH2 symmetric stretching （d＋, ~2834 cm-1） and the CH3 symmetric stretching （r＋, ~2874 cm-1） mode are applied to characterize the conformational order in the sphingomyelin/cholesterol mixture monolayers. It was found that the cholesterol make the sphingosine backbones more conformational order. During this process, the conformational order of the N-linked acyl chain remains unaltered. Moreover, the sphingosine backbones of SMs have much larger contributions to gauche defects of SMs than one in the N-linked acyl chain. These results presented here not only shed lights on understanding of the interactions of sphingomyelin molecules with cholesterol molecules at interface but also demonstrates the ability of HR-BB-SFG to probe such complicated molecular systems.

Low-pump sum frequency generation of frequency- stabilized 453 nm blue laser for photonic quantum interface

Generation of a cavity-enhanced nondegenerate narrow-band photon pair source is a potential way to realize a perfect photonic quantum interface for a hybrid quantum network. However, to ensure the high quality of the photon source, the pump laser for the narrow-band photon source should be generated in a special way. Here, we experimentally generate the blue 453 nm laser with a sum frequency generation process in a periodically poled lithium niobate waveguide. A 13 mW laser at 453 nm can be achieved with a low-power 880 nm laser and 935 nm laser input, and the internal conversion efficiency is 21.6% after calculation. The frequency of a 453 nm laser is stabilized by locking two pump lasers on one ultrastable optical cavity. The single pass process without employ- ing cavity enhancement can ensure a good robustness of the whole system.

Generation of 160 nm vacuum ultraviolet light at 82 MHz in a KBBF crystal by the fifth-harmonic of a Ti:sapphire laser

We report the generation of quasi-cw vacuum ultraviolet(VUV)light at 160 nm with a repetition rate of 82 MHz by two second-harmonic generations and one sum frequency mixing.The VUV laser light is produced as a fifth-harmonic generation of a mode-locked ps Ti:sapphire laser system by successive stages with nonlinear crystals of LBO and KBBF.A stable generation of laser light at 200 nm for more than 6 h is the most important step for obtaining the generation of light at a wavelength of 160 nm.

Development and Demonstration of Australian First Working Sodium Guide Star Laser

The Australian first working sodium guide star laser system has been designed and developed for various astronomical and space-related applications. A completely diode-pumped pulsed system was developed initially followed by a largely fiber-based continuous wave (CW) system operating at 589 nm achieved through a unique wavelength conversion scheme by combining 1342 and 1050 nm through a sum frequency generation process. For the CW system, single-mode laser beams at both 1342 and 1050 nm are achieved from fiber-based seed oscillators and fiber amplifiers. The output power of ~25 W at 1342 nm is achieved from a single frequency fiber Raman amplifier. Output power up to 70 W at 1050 nm is achieved from a Yb-doped fiber pre-amplifier followed by a Yb-doped fiber power amplifier. For the sum frequency generation process, optimum focusing parameters are evaluated and determined. The CW system has generated more than 20 W output power at 589 nm, a circularly polarised beam with a good beam quality, spectral linewidth ≤ 2 MHz, and the laser output locked on the sodium D2 line at 589.159 nm. The system has been successfully demonstrated at EOS Space Research Centre, Mt Stromlo, Canberra, and become the Australian first working sodium guide star laser system.

Formation mechanism for stable system of nanoparticle/protein corona and phospholipid membrane

In the physiological environment, nanoparticles(NPs) interact with proteins to form a protein-rich layer on the surface which is called "protein corona". Understanding and analyzing the formation process of protein corona and protein corona-nanoparticles is of great significance for biological related nano research. Many separation techniques have been used to analyze the composition of protein corona, but in situ analysis of protein corona is still absent. With the development of detection technology, sum frequency generation(SFG) is an effective instrument to analyze the surface protein structure and dynamic changes of protein corona in situ. In this work the molecular mechanism and surface structure effect of the interaction between nanoparticles with surface protein corona(S-NPP) and phospholipid membrane were studied. When S-NPP interacts with phospholipid membrane, the bond affinity network formed by the binding water can stabilize S-NPP around the lipid bilayer. In this process, S-NPP can be found wrapped in the hydration shell. This ultimately leads to a more moderate interaction between particles and phospholipid membrane.

Orbital angular momentum photonic quantum interface

Light-carrying orbital angular momentum(OAM)has great potential in enhancing the information channel capacity in both classical and quantum optical communications.Long distance optical communication requires the wavelengths of light are situated in the low-loss communication windows,but most quantum memories currently being developed for use in a quantum repeater work at different wavelengths,so a quantum interface to bridge the wavelength gap is necessary.So far,such an interface for OAM-carried light has not been realized yet.Here,we report the first experimental realization of a quantum interface for a heralded single photon carrying OAM using a nonlinear crystal in an optical cavity.The spatial structures of input and output photons exhibit strong similarity.More importantly,single-photon coherence is preserved during up-conversion as demonstrated.

Reclined trend of alkyl chain of sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate molecules induced by friction

Surfactants tend to adsorb on the surface/interface mostly in a directional manner.The alkyl chain orientation and conformation order for molecular monolayers of sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate(SDBS)at low concentrations are studied by using the sum frequency generation vibrational spectroscopy(SFG-VS).The molecular arrangement of the surfactants adsorbed at the solid/liquid interface is further investigated.It is found that the arrangement of the SDBS at the interface becomes relatively ordered with increasing bulk concentration.Meanwhile,the orientation angle reduces gradually,and the molecules tend to be upright state.In addition,the effect of friction on the conformation order and orientation angle are also analyzed.The intensity of the SDBS vibrational contraction peak becomes lower after friction,which indicates that the anion has a reorientation process at the interface.The arrangement of molecules becomes more disordered due to friction.The orientation angle increases slightly,which indicates the monolayer has an inclined trend relative to the lateral direction on the interface.A modified adsorption model considering friction effect is proposed.This work may provide a reference for the further study of adsorption mechanism and application of surfactants.

Salt effect on molecular orientation at air/liquid methanol interface

The salt effects on molecular orientation at air/liquid methanol interface were investigated by the polarization-dependent sum frequency generation vibrational spectroscopy（SFG-VS）. We clarified that the average tilting angle of the methyl group to be u = 308 58 at the air/pure methanol surface assuming a d-function orientational distribution. Upon the addition of 3 mol/L Na I, the methyl group tilts further away from the surface normal with a new u = 418 38. This orientational change does not explain the enhancement of the SFG-VS intensities when adding Na I, implying the number density of the methanol molecules with a net polar ordering in the surface region also changed with the Na I concentrations. These spectroscopic findings shed new light on the salt effects on the surfaces structures of the polar organic solutions. It was also shown that the accurate determination of the bulk refractive indices and Raman depolarization ratios for different salt concentrations is crucial to quantitatively interpret the SFG-VS data.

Theoretical Studies on the Electronic Structure of Nano-graphenes for Applications in Nonlinear Optics

In this work,azulene is introduced into nano-graphene with coronene center to enhance the second-order nonlinear optical(NLO)properties.The sum-over-states(SOS)model based calculations demonstrate that dipolar contributions are larger than octupolar contributions to the static first hyperpolarizability(〈β0〉)in most nano-graphenes except those with high symmetry(e.g.,a C2v nano-graphene has octupolar contributionsΦJ=3 up to 59.0%of the〈β0〉).Nano-graphenes containing two parallel orientating azulenes(i.e.,Out-P and Out-Ps)have large dipole moments,while their ground state is triplet.Introducing B/N/BN atoms into the positions with a high spin density transfers the ground state of Out-P and Out-Ps to closed-shell singlet,and the Out-Ps-2N has a large〈β0〉of 1621.67×10−30 esu.Further addition of an electron donor(NH2)at the pentagon end enhances the〈β0〉to 1906.22×10−30 esu.The two-dimensional second-order NLO spectra predicted by using the SOS model find strong sum frequency generations and difference frequency generations,especially in the near-infrared and visible regions.The strategies to stabilize the electronic structure and improve the NLO properties of azulene-defect carbon nanomaterials are proposed,and those strategies to engineer nano-graphenes to be semiconducting while maintaining theπ-framework are exten-dable to other similar systems.