Effect of Hydrated Ionic Liquid on Photocycle and Dynamics of Photoactive Yellow Protein

The mechanism by which proteins are solvated in hydrated ionic liquids remains an open question. Herein, the photoexcitation dynamics of photoactive yellow protein dissolved in hydrated choline dihydrogen phosphate (Hy[ch][dhp]) were studied by transient absorption and transient grating spectroscopy. The photocyclic reaction of the protein in Hy[ch][dhp] was similar to that observed in the buffer solution, as confirmed by transient absorption spectroscopy. However, the structural change of the protein during the photocycle in Hy[ch][dhp] was found to be different from that observed in the buffer solution. The known change in the diffusion coefficient of the protein was apparently suppressed in high concentrations of [ch][dhp], plausibly due to stabilization of the secondary structure.

Laser-induced thermal grating spectroscopy based on femtosecond laser multi-photon absorption

Laser-induced grating spectroscopy (LIGS) is for the first time explored in a configuration based on the crossing of two focused femtosecond (fs) laser pulses (800-nm wavelength) and a focused continuous-wave (cw) laser beam (532-nm wavelength). A thermal grating was formed by multi-photon absorption of the fs-laser pulses by $$\hbox {N}_{{2}}$$ N 2 with a pulse energy around 700 $$\upmu $$ μ J ($$\sim $$ ∼ 45 TW/$$\hbox {cm}^{2}$$ cm 2 ). The feasibility of this LIGS configuration was investigated for thermometry in heated nitrogen gas flows. The temperature was varied from room temperature up to 750 K, producing strong single-shot LIGS signals. A model based on the solution of the linearized hydrodynamic equations was used to extract temperature information from single-shot experimental data, and the results show excellent agreement with the thermocouple measurements. Furthermore, the fluorescence produced by the fs-laser pulses was investigated. This study indicates an 8-photon absorption pathway for $$\hbox {N}_{{2}}$$ N 2 in order to reach the $$\hbox {B}^{3}\Pi _{g}$$ B 3 Π g state from the ground state, and 8 + 5 photon excitation to reach the $$\hbox {B}^{2}\Sigma _{u}^{+}$$ B 2 Σ u + state of the $$\hbox {N}_{2}^{+}$$ N 2 + ion. At pulse energies higher than 1 mJ, the LIGS signal was disturbed due to the generation of plasma. Additionally, measurements in argon gas and air were performed, where the LIGS signal for argon shows lower intensity compared to air and $$\hbox {N}_{{2}}$$ N 2 .

Chandra grating spectroscopy of embedded wind shock X-ray emission from O stars shows low plasma temperatures and significant wind absorption

We present a uniform analysis of six examples of embedded wind shock (EWS) O star X-ray sources observed at high resolution with the Chandra grating spectrometers. By modeling both the hot plasma emission and the continuum absorption of the soft X-rays by the cool, partially ionized bulk of the wind we derive the temperature distribution of the shock-heated plasma and the wind mass-loss rate of each star. We find a similar temperature distribution for each star’s hot wind plasma, consistent with a power-law differential emission measure, $\frac{d\log EM}{d\log T}$, with a slope a little steeper than -2, up to temperatures of only about 107 K. The wind mass-loss rates, which are derived from the broadband X-ray absorption signatures in the spectra, are consistent with those found from other diagnostics. The most notable conclusion of this study is that wind absorption is a very important effect, especially at longer wavelengths. More than 90 per cent of the X-rays between 18 and 25 Å produced by shocks in the wind of ζ Pup are absorbed, for example. It appears that the empirical trend of X-ray hardness with spectral subtype among O stars is primarily an absorption effect.