Direct measurements of conductivity and mobility in millimeter-sized single-crystalline graphene via van der Pauw geometry

We report the direct measurements of conductivity and mobility in millimeter-sized single-crystalline graphene on SiO2/Si via van der Pauw geometry by using a home-designed four-probe scanning tunneling microscope（4P-STM）. The gate-tunable conductivity and mobility are extracted from standard van der Pauw resistance measurements where the four STM probes contact the four peripheries of hexagonal graphene flakes, respectively. The high homogeneity of transport properties of the single-crystalline graphene flake is confirmed by comparing the extracted conductivities and mobilities from three setups with different geometry factors. Our studies provide a reliable solution for directly evaluating the entire electrical properties of graphene in a non-invasive way and could be extended to characterizing other two-dimensional materials.

Influence of carbon coating on the electrochemical performance of SiO@C/graphite composite anode materials

Silicon monoxide(SiO) has been considered as one of the most promising anode materials for next generation highenergy-density Li-ion batteries(LiBs) thanks to its high theoretical capacity. However, the poor intrinsic electronic conductivity and large volume change during lithium intercalation/de-intercalation restrict its practical applications. Fabrication of SiO/C composites is an effective way to overcome these problems. Herein, a series of micro-sized SiO@C/graphite(Si0@C/G) composite anode materials, with designed capacity of 600 mAh·g-1, are successfully prepared through a pitch pyrolysis reaction method. The electrochemical performance of SiO@C/G composite anodes with different carbon coating contents of 5 wt%, 10 wt%, 15 wt%, and 35 wt% is investigated. The results show that the SiO@C/G composite with15-wt% carbon coating content exhibits the best cycle performance, with a high capacity retention of 90.7% at 25℃ and90.1% at 45 0 C after 100 cycles in full cells with LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2 as cathodes. The scanning electron microscope(SEM) and electrochemistry impedance spectroscopy(EIS) results suggest that a moderate carbon coating layer can promote the formation of stable SEI film, which is favorable for maintaining good interfacial conductivity and thus enhancing the cycling stability of SiO electrode.

Interrogation of optical Ramsey spectrum and stability study of an ^(87)Sr optical lattice clock

The optical Ramsey spectrum is experimentally realized in an ^(87)Sr optical lattice clock, and the measured linewidth agrees well with theoretical expectation. The coherence time between the clock laser and the atoms, which indicates the maximum free evolution period of using Ramsey detection to measure the atom-laser phase information, is determined as 340(23) ms by measuring the fringe contrasts of the Ramsey spectrum as a function of the free evolution period. Furthermore, with the same clock duty cycle of about 0.1, the clock stability is measured by using the Ramsey and Rabi spectra,respectively. The experimental and theoretical results show approximately the same stability as the two detection methods, which indicates that Ramsey detection cannot obviously improve the clock stability until the clock duty cycle is large enough. Thus, it is of great significance to choose the detection method of a specific clock.

Location of energy source for coronal heating on the photosphere

It is reported that ultra-fine dynamic ejections along magnetic loops of an active region origi- nate from intergranular lanes and they are associated with subsequent heating in the corona. As continu- ing work, we analyze the same set of data but focus on a quiet region and the overlying EUV/UV emis- sion as observed by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly （AIA） on board Solar Dynamics Observatory （SDO）. We find that there appear to be dark patches scattered across the quiet region and the dark patches always stay along intergranular lanes. Over the dark patches, the average UV/EUV emission at 131, 17 1, 304 and 1600 A （middle temperature） is more intense than that of other regions and EUV brightness is negatively correlated with 10830A intensity, though, such a trend does not exist for high temperature lines at 94, 193, 211 and 335 A. For the same quiet region, where both TiO 7057 A broad band images and 10830A filtergrams are available, contours for the darkest lane areas on TiO images and clark patches on 10830A filtergrams frequently differ in space. The results suggest that the dark patches do not simply reflect the areas with the darkest lanes but are associated with a kind of enhanced absorption （EA） at 10830A,. A strict definition for EA with narrow band 10830A filtergrams is found to be difficult. In this paper, we define enhanced absorption patches （EAPs） of a quiet region as the areas where emission is less than ,-90% of the mean intensity of the region. The value is equivalent to the average intensity along thin dark loops connecting two moss regions of the active region. A more strict definition for EAPs, say 88%, gives even more intense UV/EUV emission over those in the middle temperature range. The results provide further observational evidence that energy for heating the upper solar atmosphere comes from the intergranular lane area where the magnetic field is constantly brought in by convection motion in granules.

Fabrication of sulfur-doped cove-edged graphene nanoribbons on Au(111)

The on-surface synthesis from predesigned organic precursors can yield graphene nanoribbons(GNRs)with atomically precise widths,edge terminations and dopants,which facilitate the tunning of their electronic structures.Here,we report the synthesis of novel sulfur-doped cove-edged GNRs(S-CGNRs)on Au(111)from a specifically designed precursor containing thiophene rings.Scanning tunneling microscopy and non-contact atomic force microscopy measurements elucidate the formation of S-CGNRs through subsequent polymerization and cyclodehydrogenation,which further result in crosslinked branched structures.Scanning tunneling spectroscopy results reveal the conduction band minimum of the S-CGNR locates at 1.2 e V.First-principles calculations show that the S-CGNR possesses an energy bandgap of 1.17 e V,which is evidently smaller than that of an undoped cove-edged GNR(1.7 e V),suggesting effective tuning of the bandgap by introducing sulfur atoms.Further increasing the coverage of precursors close to a monolayer results in the formation of linear-shaped S-CGNRs.The fabrication of S-CGNRs provides one more candidate in the GNR toolbox and promotes the future applications of heteroatom-doped graphene nanostructures.

Establishing Modular Cell-Free Expression System for the Biosynthesis of Bicyclomycin from a Chemically Synthesized Cyclodipeptide

Cell-free expression systems have emerged as a versatile and powerful platform for metabolic engineering,biosynthesis and synthetic biology studies.Nevertheless,successful examples of the synthesis of complex natural products using this system are still limited.Bicyclomycin,a structurally unique and complex diketopiperazine alkaloid,is a clinically promising antibiotic that selectively inhibits the transcription termination factor Rho.Here,we established a modular cell-free expression system with cascade catalysis for the biosynthesis of bicyclomycin from a chemically synthesized cyclodipeptide.The six cell-free expressed biosynthetic enzymes,including five iron-andα-ketoglutarate-dependent dioxygenases and one cytochrome P450 monooxygenase,were active in converting their substrates to the corresponding products.The co-expressed enzymes in the cell-free module were able to complete the related partial pathway.In vitro biosynthesis of bicyclomycin was also achieved by reconstituting the entire biosynthetic pathways(i.e.,six enzymes)using the modular cell-free expression system.This study demonstrates that the modular cell-free expression system can be used as a robust and promising platformforthe biosynthesis of complex antibiotics.

Dual human iPSC-derived cardiac lineage cell-seeding extracellular matrix patches promote regeneration and long-term repair of infarcted hearts

Human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiovascular progenitor cells (hCVPCs) and cardiomyocytes (hCMs) possess therapeutic potential for infarcted hearts;however, their efficacy needs to be enhanced. Here we tested the hypotheses that the combination of decellularized porcine small intestinal submucosal extracellular matrix (SIS-ECM) with hCVPCs, hCMs, or dual of them (Mix, 1:1) could provide better therapeutic effects than the SIS alone, and dual hCVPCs with hCMs would exert synergic effects in cardiac repair. The data showed that the SIS patch well supported the growth of hCVPCs and hCMs. Epicardially implanted SIS-hCVPC, SIS-hCM, or SIS-Mix patches at 7-day post-myocardial infarction significantly ameliorated functional worsening, ventricular dilation and scar formation at 28- and 90-day post-implantation in C57/B6 mice, whereas the SIS only mildly improved function at 90-day post-implantation. Moreover, the SIS and SIS-cell patches improved vascularization and suppressed MI-induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and expression of Col1 and Col3, but only the SIS-hCM and the SIS-Mix patches increased the ratio of collagen III/I fibers in the infarcted hearts. Further, the SIS-cell patches stimulated cardiomyocyte proliferation via paracrine action. Notably, the SIS-Mix had better improvements in cardiac function and structure, engraftments, and cardiomyocyte proliferation. Proteomic analysis showed distinct biological functions of exclusive proteins secreted from hCVPCs and hCMs, and more exclusive proteins secreted from co-cultivated hCVPCs and hCMs than mono-cells involving in various functional processes essential for infarct repair. These findings are the first to demonstrate the efficacy and mechanisms of mono- and dual-hCVPC- and hCM-seeding SIS-ECM for repair of infarcted hearts based on the side-by-side comparison.

Strontium optical lattice clock at the National Time Service Center

We report the 87Sr optical lattice clock developed at the National Time Service Center. We achieved a closed-loop operation of the optical lattice clock based on 87Sr atoms. The linewidth of the spin-polarized clock peak is 3.9 Hz with a clock laser pulse length of 300 ms, which corresponds to a Fourier-limited linewidth of 3 Hz. The fitting of the in-loop error signal data shows that the instability is approximately 5 × 10 15τ-1/2, affected primarily by the white noise. The fractional frequency difference averages down to 5.7 × 10 ^-17 for an averaging time of 3000 s.

A transportable optical lattice clock at the National Time Service Center

We report a transportable one-dimensional optical lattice clock based on 87Sr at the National Time Service Center.The transportable apparatus consists of a compact vacuum system and compact optical subsystems.The vacuum system with a size of 90 cm×20 cm×42 cm and the beam distributors are assembled on a double-layer optical breadboard.The modularized optical subsystems are integrated on independent optical breadboards.By using a 230 ms clock laser pulse,spin-polarized spectroscopy with a linewidth of 4.8 Hz is obtained which is close to the 3.9 Hz Fourier-limit linewidth.The time interleaved self-comparison frequency instability is determined to be 6.3 × 10^-17 at an averaging time of 2000 s.

Superconducting phase qubits with shadow-evaporated Josephson junctions

We develop a fabrication process for the superconducting phase qubits in which Josephson junctions for both the qubit and superconducting quantum interference device（SQUID） detector are prepared by shadow evaporation with a suspended bridge. Al junctions with areas as small as 0.05 μm^2 are fabricated for the qubit, in which the number of the decoherencecausing two-level systems（TLS） residing in the tunnel barrier and proportional to the junction area are greatly reduced. The measured energy spectrum shows no avoided crossing arising from coherent TLS in the experimentally reachable flux bias range of the phase qubit, which demonstrates the energy relaxation time T1 and dephasing time Tφ on the order of 100 ns and 50 ns, respectively. We discuss several possible origins of decoherence from incoherent or weakly-coupled coherent TLS and further improvements of the qubit performance.

Cardiac Na^(+)-Ca^(2+) exchanger 1(ncx1h)is critical for the ventricular cardiomyocyte formation via regulating the expression levels of gata4 and hand2 in zebrafish

Ca^(2+) signaling is critical for heart development;however,the precise roles and regulatory pathways of Ca^(2+) transport proteins in cardiogenesis remain largely unknown.Sodium-calcium exchanger 1(Ncx1)is responsible for Ca^(2+) efflux in cardiomyocytes.It is involved in cardiogenesis,while the mechanism is unclear.Here,using the forward genetic screening in zebrafish,we identified a novel mutation at a highly-conserved leucine residue in ncx1 gene(mutant^(LDD353)/ncx1h^(L154P))that led to smaller hearts with reduced heart rate and weak contraction.Mechanistically,the number of ventricular but not atrial cardiomyocytes was reduced in ncx1h^(L154P) zebrafish.These defects were mimicked by knockdown or knockout of ncx1h.Moreover,ncx1h^(L154P) had cytosolic and mitochondrial Ca^(2+) overloading and Ca^(2+) transient suppression in cardiomyocytes.Furthermore,ncx1h^(L154P) and ncx1h morphants downregulated cardiac transcription factors hand2 and gata4 in the cardiac regions,while overexpression of hand2 and gata4 partially rescued cardiac defects including the number of ventricular myocytes.These findings demonstrate an essential role of the novel 154th leucine residue in the maintenance of Ncx1 function in zebrafish,and reveal previous unrecognized critical roles of the 154th leucine residue and Ncx1 in the formation of ventricular cardiomyocytes by at least partially regulating the expression levels of gata4 and hand2.

Recent spinterfacial studies targeted to spin manipulation in molecular spintronic devices

Molecular spintronics is an emerging field which evoked wide research attention since the first molecule-based spintronic device has been reported at 2002. Due to the active study over the last few years, it is found that the interfaces in spintronic device, so called spinterface, is of critical importance for many key issues in molecular spintronics, such as enhancing spin injection, lengthening spin transport distance, as well as manipulating spin signals in molecular spintronic devices. Here in this review, recent studies regarding spinterface in molecular devices, especially those impressive efforts devoted on spin manipulation, have been systematically summarized and discussed.

Deciphering the Origin and Formation of Aminopyrrole Moiety in Kosinostatin Biosynthesis

Kosinostatin(KST)contains an uncommon aminopyrrole moiety,whose biosynthesis has remained elusive.Herein,aminopyrrolinic acid,which was generated by an L-ectoine synthase-like enzyme KstB3 via cyclization of L-glutamine,was identified to be the real substrate of adenylation enzyme KstB1.Subsequently,a FAD-dependent dehydrogenase KstB4 along with a transglutaminase-like enzyme KstB6 were also involved in formation of aminopyrrole.These results provided an unusual pathway for 2-aminopyrrole formation in KST biosynthesis.

The Arabidopsis spliceosomal protein SmEb modulates ABA responses by maintaining proper alternative splicing of HAB1

Abscisic acid(ABA)signaling is critical for seed germination and abiotic stress responses in terrestrial plants.PremRNA splicing is known to regulate ABA signaling.However,the involvement of canonical spliceosomal components in regulating ABA signaling is poorly understood.Here,we show that the spliceosome component Sm core protein SmEb plays an important role in ABA signaling.SmEb expression is up-regulated by ABA treatment,and analysis of Arabidopsis smeb mutant plants suggest that SmEb modulates the alternative splicing of the ABA signaling component HAB1 by enhancing the HAB1.1 splicing variant while repressing HAB1.2.Overexpression of HAB1.1 but not HAB1.2 rescues the ABA-hypersensitive phenotype of smeb mutants.Mutations in the transcription factor ABI3,4,or 5 also reduce the ABA hypersensitivity of smeb mutants during seed germination.Our results show that the spliceosomal component SmEb plays an important role in ABA regulation of seed germination and early seedling development.

Electron transport in Dirac and Weyl semimetals

Recently, the Dirac and Weyl semimetals have attracted extensive attention in condensed matter physics due to both the fundamental interest and the potential application of a new generation of electronic devices. Here we review the exotic electrical transport phenomena in Dirac andWeyl semimetals. Section 1 is a brief introduction to the topological semimetals（TSMs）. In Section 2 and Section 3, the intriguing transport phenomena in Dirac semimetals（DSMs） andWeyl semimetals（WSMs） are reviewed, respectively. The most widely studied Cd_3A_（s2） and the TaAs family are selected as representatives to show the typical properties of DSMs and WSMs, respectively. Beyond these systems, the advances in other TSM materials,such as ZrTe_5 and the MoTe_2 family, are also introduced. In Section 4, we provide perspectives on the study of TSMs especially on the magnetotransport investigations.

Magnetic polaron-related optical properties in Ni(Ⅱ)-doped Cd S nanobelts: Implication for spin nanophotonic devices

Emissions by magnetic polarons and spin-coupled d-d transitions in diluted magnetic semiconductors(DMSs)have become a popular research field due to their unusual optical behaviors.In this work,high-quality NiI_(2)(Ⅱ)-doped CdS nanobelts are synthesized via chemical vapor deposition(CVD),and then characterized by scanning electron microscopy(SEM),x-ray diffraction,x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS),and Raman scattering.At low temperatures,the photoluminescence(PL)spectra of the Ni-doped nanobelts demonstrate three peaks near the band edge:the free exciton(FX)peak,the exciton magnetic polaron(EMP)peak out of ferromagnetically coupled spins coupled with FXs,and a small higher-energy peak from the interaction of antiferromagnetic coupled Ni pairs and FXs,called antiferromagnetic magnetic polarons(AMPs).With a higher Ni doping concentration,in addition to the d-d transitions of single Ni ions at 620 nm and 760 nm,two other PL peaks appear at 530 nm and 685 nm,attributed to another EMP emission and the d-d transitions of the antiferromagnetic coupled Ni^(2+)-Ni^(2+)pair,respectively.Furthermore,single-mode lasing at the first EMP is excited by a femtosecond laser pulse,proving a coherent bosonic lasing of the EMP condensate out of complicated states.These results show that the coupled spins play an important role in forming magnetic polaron and implementing related optical responses.

A 515-nm laser-pumped idler-resonant femtosecond BiB_(3)O_(6) optical parametric oscillator

We report on an idler-resonant femtosecond optical parametrical oscillator(OPO)based on BiB_(3)O_(6)(BiBO)crystal,synchronously pumped by a frequency-doubled,mode-locked Yb:KGW laser at 515 nm.The idler wavelengths of OPO can be tuned from 1100 nm to 1540 nm.At a repetition rate of 75.5 MHz,the OPO generates as much as 400 mW of idler power with 3.1 W of pump power,the corresponding pulse duration is 80 fs,which is 1.04 times of Fourier transform-limited(FTL)pulse duration at 1305 nm.In addition,the OPO exhibits excellent beam quality with M^(2)<1.8 at 1150 nm.To the best of our knowledge,this is the first idler-resonant femtosecond OPO pumped by 515 nm.

Yb-doped passively mode-locked fiber laser with Bi_2Te_3-deposited

In this study we present an all-normal-dispersion Yb-doped fiber laser passively mode-locked with topological insulator（Bi2Te3） saturable absorber. The saturable absorber device is fabricated by depositing Bi2Te3 on a tapered fiber through using pulsed laser deposition（PLD） technology, which can give rise to less non-saturable losses than most of the solution processing methods. Owing to the long interaction length, Bi2Te3 is not exposed to high optical power, which allows the saturable absorber device to work in a high power regime. The modulation depth of this kind of saturable absorber is measured to be 10%. By combining the saturable absorber device with Yb-doped fiber laser, a mode-locked pulse operating at a repetition rate of 19.8 MHz is achieved. The 3-d B spectral width and pulse duration are measured to be 1.245 nm and317 ps, respectively.

The Flowering Repressor SVP Confers Drought Resistance in Arabidopsis by Regulating Abscisic Acid Catabolism

Terrestrial plants must cope with drought stress to survive. Under drought stress, plants accumulate the phytohormone abscisic acid （ABA） by increasing its biosynthesis and decreasing its catabolism. However, the regulatory pathways controlling ABA catabolism in response to drought remain largely unclear. Here, we report that the flowering repressor SHORT VEGETATIVE PHASE （SVP） is induced by drought stress and associates with the promoter regions of the ABA catabolism pathway genes CYP707A 1, CYP707A3 and AtBG1, causing decreased expression of CYP7OTA 1 and CYP707A3 but enhanced expression ofAtBG1 inArabidopsis leaves. Loss-of-function mutations in CYP707A 1 and CYP707A3 or overexpression of AtBG1 could rescue the drought-hypersensitive phenotype of svp mutant plants by increasing cellular ABA levels. Collectively, our results suggest that SVP is a central regulator of ABA catabolism and that a regulatory pathway involving SVP, CYP707A1/3, and AtBG1 plays a critical role in plant response to water deficit and plant drought resistance.

通过4-磺基苯甲酸单钾盐抑制离子迁移以实现效率为22.7%的稳定钙钛矿太阳能电池

晶界处的深能级缺陷和严重的卤素离子迁移对进一步提高钙钛矿太阳能电池的稳定性和效率以及消除迟滞现象提出了严峻的挑战.本文报道了一种大尺寸强配位的有机阴离子晶界锚定策略来抑制离子迁移并钝化薄膜缺陷.本策略通过将含有大尺寸有机阴离子的钾盐(4-磺基苯甲酸单钾盐,SAMS)加入到钙钛矿前驱液中来实现.研究表明,阴离子两端的C=O和/或S=O能够与未配位的Pb^(2+)离子和/或卤化物空位之间发生强配位作用,阴离子中的–OH能够与甲脒阳离子形成氢键,以上化学作用使阴离子紧紧锚定在晶界处.SAMS不仅能够钝化浅能级缺陷,而且能够更有效地钝化深能级缺陷.该晶界锚定策略能降低钙钛矿薄膜的缺陷密度、延长载流子寿命和抑制离子迁移,提高电池的效率和稳定性以及消除迟滞效应.结果表明,基于SAMS改性的电池实现了22.7%的效率,而对照器件显示了20.3%的效率.未封装改性的器件在60℃加热老化1320小时后几乎没有发生衰减.