Sample records for quantum chemical method

  1. Cation solvation with quantum chemical effects modeled by a size-consistent multi-partitioning quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics method.

    PubMed

    Watanabe, Hiroshi C; Kubillus, Maximilian; Kubař, Tomáš; Stach, Robert; Mizaikoff, Boris; Ishikita, Hiroshi

    2017-07-21

    In the condensed phase, quantum chemical properties such as many-body effects and intermolecular charge fluctuations are critical determinants of the solvation structure and dynamics. Thus, a quantum mechanical (QM) molecular description is required for both solute and solvent to incorporate these properties. However, it is challenging to conduct molecular dynamics (MD) simulations for condensed systems of sufficient scale when adapting QM potentials. To overcome this problem, we recently developed the size-consistent multi-partitioning (SCMP) quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) method and realized stable and accurate MD simulations, using the QM potential to a benchmark system. In the present study, as the first application of the SCMP method, we have investigated the structures and dynamics of Na + , K + , and Ca 2+ solutions based on nanosecond-scale sampling, a sampling 100-times longer than that of conventional QM-based samplings. Furthermore, we have evaluated two dynamic properties, the diffusion coefficient and difference spectra, with high statistical certainty. Furthermore the calculation of these properties has not previously been possible within the conventional QM/MM framework. Based on our analysis, we have quantitatively evaluated the quantum chemical solvation effects, which show distinct differences between the cations.

  2. Quantum chemical methods for the investigation of photoinitiated processes in biological systems: theory and applications.

    PubMed

    Dreuw, Andreas

    2006-11-13

    With the advent of modern computers and advances in the development of efficient quantum chemical computer codes, the meaningful computation of large molecular systems at a quantum mechanical level became feasible. Recent experimental effort to understand photoinitiated processes in biological systems, for instance photosynthesis or vision, at a molecular level also triggered theoretical investigations in this field. In this Minireview, standard quantum chemical methods are presented that are applicable and recently used for the calculation of excited states of photoinitiated processes in biological molecular systems. These methods comprise configuration interaction singles, the complete active space self-consistent field method, and time-dependent density functional theory and its variants. Semiempirical approaches are also covered. Their basic theoretical concepts and mathematical equations are briefly outlined, and their properties and limitations are discussed. Recent successful applications of the methods to photoinitiated processes in biological systems are described and theoretical tools for the analysis of excited states are presented.

  3. Quantum chemical studies of estrogenic compounds

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Quantum chemical methods are potent tools to provide information on the chemical structure and electronic properties of organic molecules. Modern computational chemistry methods have provided a great deal of insight into the binding of estrogenic compounds to estrogenic receptors (ER), an important ...

  4. Complex Chemical Reaction Networks from Heuristics-Aided Quantum Chemistry.

    PubMed

    Rappoport, Dmitrij; Galvin, Cooper J; Zubarev, Dmitry Yu; Aspuru-Guzik, Alán

    2014-03-11

    While structures and reactivities of many small molecules can be computed efficiently and accurately using quantum chemical methods, heuristic approaches remain essential for modeling complex structures and large-scale chemical systems. Here, we present a heuristics-aided quantum chemical methodology applicable to complex chemical reaction networks such as those arising in cell metabolism and prebiotic chemistry. Chemical heuristics offer an expedient way of traversing high-dimensional reactive potential energy surfaces and are combined here with quantum chemical structure optimizations, which yield the structures and energies of the reaction intermediates and products. Application of heuristics-aided quantum chemical methodology to the formose reaction reproduces the experimentally observed reaction products, major reaction pathways, and autocatalytic cycles.

  5. Accurate quantum chemical calculations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bauschlicher, Charles W., Jr.; Langhoff, Stephen R.; Taylor, Peter R.

    1989-01-01

    An important goal of quantum chemical calculations is to provide an understanding of chemical bonding and molecular electronic structure. A second goal, the prediction of energy differences to chemical accuracy, has been much harder to attain. First, the computational resources required to achieve such accuracy are very large, and second, it is not straightforward to demonstrate that an apparently accurate result, in terms of agreement with experiment, does not result from a cancellation of errors. Recent advances in electronic structure methodology, coupled with the power of vector supercomputers, have made it possible to solve a number of electronic structure problems exactly using the full configuration interaction (FCI) method within a subspace of the complete Hilbert space. These exact results can be used to benchmark approximate techniques that are applicable to a wider range of chemical and physical problems. The methodology of many-electron quantum chemistry is reviewed. Methods are considered in detail for performing FCI calculations. The application of FCI methods to several three-electron problems in molecular physics are discussed. A number of benchmark applications of FCI wave functions are described. Atomic basis sets and the development of improved methods for handling very large basis sets are discussed: these are then applied to a number of chemical and spectroscopic problems; to transition metals; and to problems involving potential energy surfaces. Although the experiences described give considerable grounds for optimism about the general ability to perform accurate calculations, there are several problems that have proved less tractable, at least with current computer resources, and these and possible solutions are discussed.

  6. Quantum indistinguishability in chemical reactions.

    PubMed

    Fisher, Matthew P A; Radzihovsky, Leo

    2018-05-15

    Quantum indistinguishability plays a crucial role in many low-energy physical phenomena, from quantum fluids to molecular spectroscopy. It is, however, typically ignored in most high-temperature processes, particularly for ionic coordinates, implicitly assumed to be distinguishable, incoherent, and thus well approximated classically. We explore enzymatic chemical reactions involving small symmetric molecules and argue that in many situations a full quantum treatment of collective nuclear degrees of freedom is essential. Supported by several physical arguments, we conjecture a "quantum dynamical selection" (QDS) rule for small symmetric molecules that precludes chemical processes that involve direct transitions from orbitally nonsymmetric molecular states. As we propose and discuss, the implications of the QDS rule include ( i ) a differential chemical reactivity of para- and orthohydrogen, ( ii ) a mechanism for inducing intermolecular quantum entanglement of nuclear spins, ( iii ) a mass-independent isotope fractionation mechanism, ( iv ) an explanation of the enhanced chemical activity of "reactive oxygen species", ( v ) illuminating the importance of ortho-water molecules in modulating the quantum dynamics of liquid water, and ( vi ) providing the critical quantum-to-biochemical linkage in the nuclear spin model of the (putative) quantum brain, among others.

  7. Quantum Entanglement and Chemical Reactivity.

    PubMed

    Molina-Espíritu, M; Esquivel, R O; López-Rosa, S; Dehesa, J S

    2015-11-10

    The water molecule and a hydrogenic abstraction reaction are used to explore in detail some quantum entanglement features of chemical interest. We illustrate that the energetic and quantum-information approaches are necessary for a full understanding of both the geometry of the quantum probability density of molecular systems and the evolution of a chemical reaction. The energy and entanglement hypersurfaces and contour maps of these two models show different phenomena. The energy ones reveal the well-known stable geometry of the models, whereas the entanglement ones grasp the chemical capability to transform from one state system to a new one. In the water molecule the chemical reactivity is witnessed through quantum entanglement as a local minimum indicating the bond cleavage in the dissociation process of the molecule. Finally, quantum entanglement is also useful as a chemical reactivity descriptor by detecting the transition state along the intrinsic reaction path in the hypersurface of the hydrogenic abstraction reaction corresponding to a maximally entangled state.

  8. Advances in Quantum Mechanochemistry: Electronic Structure Methods and Force Analysis.

    PubMed

    Stauch, Tim; Dreuw, Andreas

    2016-11-23

    In quantum mechanochemistry, quantum chemical methods are used to describe molecules under the influence of an external force. The calculation of geometries, energies, transition states, reaction rates, and spectroscopic properties of molecules on the force-modified potential energy surfaces is the key to gain an in-depth understanding of mechanochemical processes at the molecular level. In this review, we present recent advances in the field of quantum mechanochemistry and introduce the quantum chemical methods used to calculate the properties of molecules under an external force. We place special emphasis on quantum chemical force analysis tools, which can be used to identify the mechanochemically relevant degrees of freedom in a deformed molecule, and spotlight selected applications of quantum mechanochemical methods to point out their synergistic relationship with experiments.

  9. Quantum-chemical Calculations in the Study of Antitumour Compounds

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Luzhkov, V. B.; Bogdanov, G. N.

    1986-01-01

    The results of quantum-chemical calculations on antitumour preparations concerning the mechanism of their action at the electronic and molecular levels and structure-activity correlations are discussed in this review. Preparations whose action involves alkylating and free-radial mechanisms, complex-forming agents, and antimetabolites are considered. Modern quantum-chemical methods for calculations on biologically active substances are described. The bibliography includes 106 references.

  10. An investigation into the effective surface passivation of quantum dots by a photo-assisted chemical method

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Joo, So-Yeong; Park, Hyun-Su; Kim, Do-yeon; Kim, Bum-Sung; Lee, Chan Gi; Kim, Woo-Byoung

    2018-01-01

    In this study, we have developed an effective amino passivation process for quantum dots (QDs) at room temperature and have investigated a passivation mechanism using a photo-assisted chemical method. As a result of the reverse reaction of the H2O molecules, the etching kinetics of the photo-assisted chemical method increased upon increasing the 3-amino-1-propanol (APOL)/H2O ratio of the etching solution. Photon-excited electron-hole pairs lead to strong bonding between the organic and surface atoms of the QDs, and results in an increase of the quantum yield (QY%). This passivation method is also applicable to CdSe/ZnSe core/shell structures of QDs, due to the passivation of mid-gap defects states at the interface. The QY% of the as-synthesized CdSe QDs is dramatically enhanced by the amino passivation from 37% to 75% and the QY% of the CdSe/ZnSe core/shell QDs is also improved by ˜28%.

  11. Hybrid quantum and classical methods for computing kinetic isotope effects of chemical reactions in solutions and in enzymes.

    PubMed

    Gao, Jiali; Major, Dan T; Fan, Yao; Lin, Yen-Lin; Ma, Shuhua; Wong, Kin-Yiu

    2008-01-01

    A method for incorporating quantum mechanics into enzyme kinetics modeling is presented. Three aspects are emphasized: 1) combined quantum mechanical and molecular mechanical methods are used to represent the potential energy surface for modeling bond forming and breaking processes, 2) instantaneous normal mode analyses are used to incorporate quantum vibrational free energies to the classical potential of mean force, and 3) multidimensional tunneling methods are used to estimate quantum effects on the reaction coordinate motion. Centroid path integral simulations are described to make quantum corrections to the classical potential of mean force. In this method, the nuclear quantum vibrational and tunneling contributions are not separable. An integrated centroid path integral-free energy perturbation and umbrella sampling (PI-FEP/UM) method along with a bisection sampling procedure was summarized, which provides an accurate, easily convergent method for computing kinetic isotope effects for chemical reactions in solution and in enzymes. In the ensemble-averaged variational transition state theory with multidimensional tunneling (EA-VTST/MT), these three aspects of quantum mechanical effects can be individually treated, providing useful insights into the mechanism of enzymatic reactions. These methods are illustrated by applications to a model process in the gas phase, the decarboxylation reaction of N-methyl picolinate in water, and the proton abstraction and reprotonation process catalyzed by alanine racemase. These examples show that the incorporation of quantum mechanical effects is essential for enzyme kinetics simulations.

  12. Quantum chemical approach to estimating the thermodynamics of metabolic reactions.

    PubMed

    Jinich, Adrian; Rappoport, Dmitrij; Dunn, Ian; Sanchez-Lengeling, Benjamin; Olivares-Amaya, Roberto; Noor, Elad; Even, Arren Bar; Aspuru-Guzik, Alán

    2014-11-12

    Thermodynamics plays an increasingly important role in modeling and engineering metabolism. We present the first nonempirical computational method for estimating standard Gibbs reaction energies of metabolic reactions based on quantum chemistry, which can help fill in the gaps in the existing thermodynamic data. When applied to a test set of reactions from core metabolism, the quantum chemical approach is comparable in accuracy to group contribution methods for isomerization and group transfer reactions and for reactions not including multiply charged anions. The errors in standard Gibbs reaction energy estimates are correlated with the charges of the participating molecules. The quantum chemical approach is amenable to systematic improvements and holds potential for providing thermodynamic data for all of metabolism.

  13. Quantum Chemical Approach to Estimating the Thermodynamics of Metabolic Reactions

    PubMed Central

    Jinich, Adrian; Rappoport, Dmitrij; Dunn, Ian; Sanchez-Lengeling, Benjamin; Olivares-Amaya, Roberto; Noor, Elad; Even, Arren Bar; Aspuru-Guzik, Alán

    2014-01-01

    Thermodynamics plays an increasingly important role in modeling and engineering metabolism. We present the first nonempirical computational method for estimating standard Gibbs reaction energies of metabolic reactions based on quantum chemistry, which can help fill in the gaps in the existing thermodynamic data. When applied to a test set of reactions from core metabolism, the quantum chemical approach is comparable in accuracy to group contribution methods for isomerization and group transfer reactions and for reactions not including multiply charged anions. The errors in standard Gibbs reaction energy estimates are correlated with the charges of the participating molecules. The quantum chemical approach is amenable to systematic improvements and holds potential for providing thermodynamic data for all of metabolism. PMID:25387603

  14. New generation of docking programs: Supercomputer validation of force fields and quantum-chemical methods for docking.

    PubMed

    Sulimov, Alexey V; Kutov, Danil C; Katkova, Ekaterina V; Ilin, Ivan S; Sulimov, Vladimir B

    2017-11-01

    Discovery of new inhibitors of the protein associated with a given disease is the initial and most important stage of the whole process of the rational development of new pharmaceutical substances. New inhibitors block the active site of the target protein and the disease is cured. Computer-aided molecular modeling can considerably increase effectiveness of new inhibitors development. Reliable predictions of the target protein inhibition by a small molecule, ligand, is defined by the accuracy of docking programs. Such programs position a ligand in the target protein and estimate the protein-ligand binding energy. Positioning accuracy of modern docking programs is satisfactory. However, the accuracy of binding energy calculations is too low to predict good inhibitors. For effective application of docking programs to new inhibitors development the accuracy of binding energy calculations should be higher than 1kcal/mol. Reasons of limited accuracy of modern docking programs are discussed. One of the most important aspects limiting this accuracy is imperfection of protein-ligand energy calculations. Results of supercomputer validation of several force fields and quantum-chemical methods for docking are presented. The validation was performed by quasi-docking as follows. First, the low energy minima spectra of 16 protein-ligand complexes were found by exhaustive minima search in the MMFF94 force field. Second, energies of the lowest 8192 minima are recalculated with CHARMM force field and PM6-D3H4X and PM7 quantum-chemical methods for each complex. The analysis of minima energies reveals the docking positioning accuracies of the PM7 and PM6-D3H4X quantum-chemical methods and the CHARMM force field are close to one another and they are better than the positioning accuracy of the MMFF94 force field. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Chemical accuracy from quantum Monte Carlo for the benzene dimer.

    PubMed

    Azadi, Sam; Cohen, R E

    2015-09-14

    We report an accurate study of interactions between benzene molecules using variational quantum Monte Carlo (VMC) and diffusion quantum Monte Carlo (DMC) methods. We compare these results with density functional theory using different van der Waals functionals. In our quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) calculations, we use accurate correlated trial wave functions including three-body Jastrow factors and backflow transformations. We consider two benzene molecules in the parallel displaced geometry, and find that by highly optimizing the wave function and introducing more dynamical correlation into the wave function, we compute the weak chemical binding energy between aromatic rings accurately. We find optimal VMC and DMC binding energies of -2.3(4) and -2.7(3) kcal/mol, respectively. The best estimate of the coupled-cluster theory through perturbative triplets/complete basis set limit is -2.65(2) kcal/mol [Miliordos et al., J. Phys. Chem. A 118, 7568 (2014)]. Our results indicate that QMC methods give chemical accuracy for weakly bound van der Waals molecular interactions, comparable to results from the best quantum chemistry methods.

  16. Semiempirical Quantum Mechanical Methods for Noncovalent Interactions for Chemical and Biochemical Applications

    PubMed Central

    2016-01-01

    Semiempirical (SE) methods can be derived from either Hartree–Fock or density functional theory by applying systematic approximations, leading to efficient computational schemes that are several orders of magnitude faster than ab initio calculations. Such numerical efficiency, in combination with modern computational facilities and linear scaling algorithms, allows application of SE methods to very large molecular systems with extensive conformational sampling. To reliably model the structure, dynamics, and reactivity of biological and other soft matter systems, however, good accuracy for the description of noncovalent interactions is required. In this review, we analyze popular SE approaches in terms of their ability to model noncovalent interactions, especially in the context of describing biomolecules, water solution, and organic materials. We discuss the most significant errors and proposed correction schemes, and we review their performance using standard test sets of molecular systems for quantum chemical methods and several recent applications. The general goal is to highlight both the value and limitations of SE methods and stimulate further developments that allow them to effectively complement ab initio methods in the analysis of complex molecular systems. PMID:27074247

  17. Polynomial-time quantum algorithm for the simulation of chemical dynamics

    PubMed Central

    Kassal, Ivan; Jordan, Stephen P.; Love, Peter J.; Mohseni, Masoud; Aspuru-Guzik, Alán

    2008-01-01

    The computational cost of exact methods for quantum simulation using classical computers grows exponentially with system size. As a consequence, these techniques can be applied only to small systems. By contrast, we demonstrate that quantum computers could exactly simulate chemical reactions in polynomial time. Our algorithm uses the split-operator approach and explicitly simulates all electron-nuclear and interelectronic interactions in quadratic time. Surprisingly, this treatment is not only more accurate than the Born–Oppenheimer approximation but faster and more efficient as well, for all reactions with more than about four atoms. This is the case even though the entire electronic wave function is propagated on a grid with appropriately short time steps. Although the preparation and measurement of arbitrary states on a quantum computer is inefficient, here we demonstrate how to prepare states of chemical interest efficiently. We also show how to efficiently obtain chemically relevant observables, such as state-to-state transition probabilities and thermal reaction rates. Quantum computers using these techniques could outperform current classical computers with 100 qubits. PMID:19033207

  18. Quantum chemical investigation of levofloxacin-boron complexes: A computational approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sayin, Koray; Karakaş, Duran

    2018-04-01

    Quantum chemical calculations are performed over some boron complexes with levofloxacin. Boron complex with fluorine atoms are optimized at three different methods (HF, B3LYP and M062X) with 6-31 + G(d) basis set. The best level is determined as M062X/6-31 + G(d) by comparison of experimental and calculated results of complex (1). The other complexes are optimized by using the best level. Structural properties, IR and NMR spectrum are examined in detail. Biological activities of mentioned complexes are investigated by some quantum chemical descriptors and molecular docking analyses. As a result, biological activities of complex (2) and (4) are close to each other and higher than those of other complexes. Additionally, NLO properties of mentioned complexes are investigated by some quantum chemical parameters. It is found that complex (3) is the best candidate for NLO applications.

  19. Incorporation of Mn2+ into CdSe quantum dots by chemical bath co-deposition method for photovoltaic enhancement of quantum dot-sensitized solar cells

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Chenguang; Liu, Shaowen; Liu, Xingwei; Deng, Fei; Xiong, Yan; Tsai, Fang-Chang

    2018-03-01

    A photoelectric conversion efficiency (PCE) of 4.9% was obtained under 100 mW cm-2 illumination by quantum-dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs) using a CdS/Mn : CdSe sensitizer. CdS quantum dots (QDs) were deposited on a TiO2 mesoporous oxide film by successive ionic layer absorption and reaction. Mn2+ doping into CdSe QDs is an innovative and simple method-chemical bath co-deposition, that is, mixing the Mn ion source with CdSe precursor solution for Mn : CdSe QD deposition. Compared with the CdS/CdSe sensitizer without Mn2+ incorporation, the PCE was increased from 3.4% to 4.9%. The effects of Mn2+ doping on the chemical, physical and photovoltaic properties of the QDSSCs were investigated by energy dispersive spectrometry, absorption spectroscopy, photocurrent density-voltage characteristics and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Mn-doped CdSe QDs in QDSSCs can obtain superior light absorption, faster electron transport and slower charge recombination than CdSe QDs.

  20. Rapid prediction of chemical metabolism by human UDP-glucuronosyltransferase isoforms using quantum chemical descriptors derived with the electronegativity equalization method.

    PubMed

    Sorich, Michael J; McKinnon, Ross A; Miners, John O; Winkler, David A; Smith, Paul A

    2004-10-07

    This study aimed to evaluate in silico models based on quantum chemical (QC) descriptors derived using the electronegativity equalization method (EEM) and to assess the use of QC properties to predict chemical metabolism by human UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) isoforms. Various EEM-derived QC molecular descriptors were calculated for known UGT substrates and nonsubstrates. Classification models were developed using support vector machine and partial least squares discriminant analysis. In general, the most predictive models were generated with the support vector machine. Combining QC and 2D descriptors (from previous work) using a consensus approach resulted in a statistically significant improvement in predictivity (to 84%) over both the QC and 2D models and the other methods of combining the descriptors. EEM-derived QC descriptors were shown to be both highly predictive and computationally efficient. It is likely that EEM-derived QC properties will be generally useful for predicting ADMET and physicochemical properties during drug discovery.

  1. A quantum informational approach for dissecting chemical reactions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Duperrouzel, Corinne; Tecmer, Paweł; Boguslawski, Katharina; Barcza, Gergely; Legeza, Örs; Ayers, Paul W.

    2015-02-01

    We present a conceptionally different approach to dissect bond-formation processes in metal-driven catalysis using concepts from quantum information theory. Our method uses the entanglement and correlation among molecular orbitals to analyze changes in electronic structure that accompany chemical processes. As a proof-of-principle example, the evolution of nickel-ethene bond-formation is dissected, which allows us to monitor the interplay of back-bonding and π-donation along the reaction coordinate. Furthermore, the reaction pathway of nickel-ethene complexation is analyzed using quantum chemistry methods, revealing the presence of a transition state. Our study supports the crucial role of metal-to-ligand back-donation in the bond-forming process of nickel-ethene.

  2. Chemical application of diffusion quantum Monte Carlo

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Reynolds, P. J.; Lester, W. A., Jr.

    1984-01-01

    The diffusion quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) method gives a stochastic solution to the Schroedinger equation. This approach is receiving increasing attention in chemical applications as a result of its high accuracy. However, reducing statistical uncertainty remains a priority because chemical effects are often obtained as small differences of large numbers. As an example, the single-triplet splitting of the energy of the methylene molecule CH sub 2 is given. The QMC algorithm was implemented on the CYBER 205, first as a direct transcription of the algorithm running on the VAX 11/780, and second by explicitly writing vector code for all loops longer than a crossover length C. The speed of the codes relative to one another as a function of C, and relative to the VAX, are discussed. The computational time dependence obtained versus the number of basis functions is discussed and this is compared with that obtained from traditional quantum chemistry codes and that obtained from traditional computer architectures.

  3. Structure activity studies of an analgesic drug tapentadol hydrochloride by spectroscopic and quantum chemical methods

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Arjunan, V.; Santhanam, R.; Marchewka, M. K.; Mohan, S.; Yang, Haifeng

    2015-11-01

    Tapentadol is a novel opioid pain reliever drug with a dual mechanism of action, having potency between morphine and tramadol. Quantum chemical calculations have been carried out for tapentadol hydrochloride (TAP.Cl) to determine the properties. The geometry is optimised and the structural properties of the compound were determined from the optimised geometry by B3LYP method using 6-311++G(d,p), 6-31G(d,p) and cc-pVDZ basis sets. FT-IR and FT-Raman spectra are recorded in the solid phase in the region of 4000-400 and 4000-100 cm-1, respectively. Frontier molecular orbital energies, LUMO-HOMO energy gap, ionisation potential, electron affinity, electronegativity, hardness and chemical potential are also calculated. The stability of the molecule arising from hyperconjugative interactions and charge delocalisation has been analysed using NBO analysis. The 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance chemical shifts of the molecule are analysed.

  4. Incorporation of Mn2+ into CdSe quantum dots by chemical bath co-deposition method for photovoltaic enhancement of quantum dot-sensitized solar cells.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Chenguang; Liu, Shaowen; Liu, Xingwei; Deng, Fei; Xiong, Yan; Tsai, Fang-Chang

    2018-03-01

    A photoelectric conversion efficiency (PCE) of 4.9% was obtained under 100 mW cm -2 illumination by quantum-dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs) using a CdS/Mn : CdSe sensitizer. CdS quantum dots (QDs) were deposited on a TiO 2 mesoporous oxide film by successive ionic layer absorption and reaction. Mn 2+ doping into CdSe QDs is an innovative and simple method-chemical bath co-deposition, that is, mixing the Mn ion source with CdSe precursor solution for Mn : CdSe QD deposition. Compared with the CdS/CdSe sensitizer without Mn 2+ incorporation, the PCE was increased from 3.4% to 4.9%. The effects of Mn 2+ doping on the chemical, physical and photovoltaic properties of the QDSSCs were investigated by energy dispersive spectrometry, absorption spectroscopy, photocurrent density-voltage characteristics and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Mn-doped CdSe QDs in QDSSCs can obtain superior light absorption, faster electron transport and slower charge recombination than CdSe QDs.

  5. Quantum chemical parameters in QSAR: what do I use when?

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Hickey, James P.; Ostrander, Gary K.

    1996-01-01

    This chapter provides a brief overview of the numerous quantum chemical parameters that have been/are currently being used in quantitative structure activity relationships (QSAR), along with a representative bibliography. The parameters will be grouped according to their mechanistic interpretations, and representative biological and physical chemical applications will be mentioned. Parmater computation methods and the appropriate software are highlighted, as are sources for software.

  6. Quantum-chemical insights from deep tensor neural networks

    PubMed Central

    Schütt, Kristof T.; Arbabzadah, Farhad; Chmiela, Stefan; Müller, Klaus R.; Tkatchenko, Alexandre

    2017-01-01

    Learning from data has led to paradigm shifts in a multitude of disciplines, including web, text and image search, speech recognition, as well as bioinformatics. Can machine learning enable similar breakthroughs in understanding quantum many-body systems? Here we develop an efficient deep learning approach that enables spatially and chemically resolved insights into quantum-mechanical observables of molecular systems. We unify concepts from many-body Hamiltonians with purpose-designed deep tensor neural networks, which leads to size-extensive and uniformly accurate (1 kcal mol−1) predictions in compositional and configurational chemical space for molecules of intermediate size. As an example of chemical relevance, the model reveals a classification of aromatic rings with respect to their stability. Further applications of our model for predicting atomic energies and local chemical potentials in molecules, reliable isomer energies, and molecules with peculiar electronic structure demonstrate the potential of machine learning for revealing insights into complex quantum-chemical systems. PMID:28067221

  7. Quantum-chemical insights from deep tensor neural networks.

    PubMed

    Schütt, Kristof T; Arbabzadah, Farhad; Chmiela, Stefan; Müller, Klaus R; Tkatchenko, Alexandre

    2017-01-09

    Learning from data has led to paradigm shifts in a multitude of disciplines, including web, text and image search, speech recognition, as well as bioinformatics. Can machine learning enable similar breakthroughs in understanding quantum many-body systems? Here we develop an efficient deep learning approach that enables spatially and chemically resolved insights into quantum-mechanical observables of molecular systems. We unify concepts from many-body Hamiltonians with purpose-designed deep tensor neural networks, which leads to size-extensive and uniformly accurate (1 kcal mol -1 ) predictions in compositional and configurational chemical space for molecules of intermediate size. As an example of chemical relevance, the model reveals a classification of aromatic rings with respect to their stability. Further applications of our model for predicting atomic energies and local chemical potentials in molecules, reliable isomer energies, and molecules with peculiar electronic structure demonstrate the potential of machine learning for revealing insights into complex quantum-chemical systems.

  8. Quantum-chemical insights from deep tensor neural networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Schütt, Kristof T.; Arbabzadah, Farhad; Chmiela, Stefan; Müller, Klaus R.; Tkatchenko, Alexandre

    2017-01-01

    Learning from data has led to paradigm shifts in a multitude of disciplines, including web, text and image search, speech recognition, as well as bioinformatics. Can machine learning enable similar breakthroughs in understanding quantum many-body systems? Here we develop an efficient deep learning approach that enables spatially and chemically resolved insights into quantum-mechanical observables of molecular systems. We unify concepts from many-body Hamiltonians with purpose-designed deep tensor neural networks, which leads to size-extensive and uniformly accurate (1 kcal mol-1) predictions in compositional and configurational chemical space for molecules of intermediate size. As an example of chemical relevance, the model reveals a classification of aromatic rings with respect to their stability. Further applications of our model for predicting atomic energies and local chemical potentials in molecules, reliable isomer energies, and molecules with peculiar electronic structure demonstrate the potential of machine learning for revealing insights into complex quantum-chemical systems.

  9. Low temperature regulated growth of PbS quantum dots by wet chemical method

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Kumar, Hitanshu, E-mail: hitanshuminhas@gmail.com; Barman, P. B.; Singh, Ragini Raj

    2015-08-28

    Narrow size distribution with regulated synthesis of lead sulfide (PbS) quantum dots (QDs) was achieved through wet chemical method. Different concentrations of 2-mercaptoethanol (capping agent) were used for tailoring the QDs size. Transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction studies revealed that the QDs have mean diameters between 6 to 15 nm. The optical absorption spectra were compared to the predictions of a theoretical model for the electronic structure. The theory agrees well with experiment for QDs larger than 7 nm, but for smaller dots there is some deviation from the theoretical predictions. Consequently, the produced particles are having monodispersity, good water solubility,more » stability and may be good arguments to be biologically compatible due to the use of 2-mercaptoethanol.« less

  10. Quantum chemical calculations of Cr2O3/SnO2 using density functional theory method

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jawaher, K. Rackesh; Indirajith, R.; Krishnan, S.; Robert, R.; Das, S. Jerome

    2018-03-01

    Quantum chemical calculations have been employed to study the molecular effects produced by Cr2O3/SnO2 optimised structure. The theoretical parameters of the transparent conducting metal oxides were calculated using DFT / B3LYP / LANL2DZ method. The optimised bond parameters such as bond lengths, bond angles and dihedral angles were calculated using the same theory. The non-linear optical property of the title compound was calculated using first-order hyperpolarisability calculation. The calculated HOMO-LUMO analysis explains the charge transfer interaction between the molecule. In addition, MEP and Mulliken atomic charges were also calculated and analysed.

  11. An efficient matrix product operator representation of the quantum chemical Hamiltonian

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Keller, Sebastian, E-mail: sebastian.keller@phys.chem.ethz.ch; Reiher, Markus, E-mail: markus.reiher@phys.chem.ethz.ch; Dolfi, Michele, E-mail: dolfim@phys.ethz.ch

    We describe how to efficiently construct the quantum chemical Hamiltonian operator in matrix product form. We present its implementation as a density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) algorithm for quantum chemical applications. Existing implementations of DMRG for quantum chemistry are based on the traditional formulation of the method, which was developed from the point of view of Hilbert space decimation and attained higher performance compared to straightforward implementations of matrix product based DMRG. The latter variationally optimizes a class of ansatz states known as matrix product states, where operators are correspondingly represented as matrix product operators (MPOs). The MPO construction schememore » presented here eliminates the previous performance disadvantages while retaining the additional flexibility provided by a matrix product approach, for example, the specification of expectation values becomes an input parameter. In this way, MPOs for different symmetries — abelian and non-abelian — and different relativistic and non-relativistic models may be solved by an otherwise unmodified program.« less

  12. Quantum-chemical investigations of spectroscopic properties of a fluorescence probe

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Titova, T. Yu.; Morozova, Yu. P.; Zharkova, O. M.; Artyukhov, V. Ya.; Korolev, B. V.

    2012-09-01

    The prodan molecule (6-propionyl-2-dimethylamino naphthalene) - fluorescence probe - is investigated by quantum-chemical methods of intermediate neglect of differential overlap (INDO) and molecular electrostatic potential (MEP). The dipole moments of the ground and excited states, the nature and position of energy levels, the centers of specific solvation, the rate constants of photoprocesses, and the fluorescence quantum yield are estimated. To elucidate the role of the dimethylamino group in the formation of bands and spectral characteristics, the molecule only with the propionyl group (pron) is investigated. The long-wavelength absorption bands of prodan and pron molecules are interpreted. The results obtained for the prodan molecule by the INDO method with original spectroscopic parameterization are compared with the literature data obtained by the DFT/CIS, ZINDO/S, and AM1/CISD methods.

  13. Quantum Chemically Estimated Abraham Solute Parameters Using Multiple Solvent-Water Partition Coefficients and Molecular Polarizability.

    PubMed

    Liang, Yuzhen; Xiong, Ruichang; Sandler, Stanley I; Di Toro, Dominic M

    2017-09-05

    Polyparameter Linear Free Energy Relationships (pp-LFERs), also called Linear Solvation Energy Relationships (LSERs), are used to predict many environmentally significant properties of chemicals. A method is presented for computing the necessary chemical parameters, the Abraham parameters (AP), used by many pp-LFERs. It employs quantum chemical calculations and uses only the chemical's molecular structure. The method computes the Abraham E parameter using density functional theory computed molecular polarizability and the Clausius-Mossotti equation relating the index refraction to the molecular polarizability, estimates the Abraham V as the COSMO calculated molecular volume, and computes the remaining AP S, A, and B jointly with a multiple linear regression using sixty-five solvent-water partition coefficients computed using the quantum mechanical COSMO-SAC solvation model. These solute parameters, referred to as Quantum Chemically estimated Abraham Parameters (QCAP), are further adjusted by fitting to experimentally based APs using QCAP parameters as the independent variables so that they are compatible with existing Abraham pp-LFERs. QCAP and adjusted QCAP for 1827 neutral chemicals are included. For 24 solvent-water systems including octanol-water, predicted log solvent-water partition coefficients using adjusted QCAP have the smallest root-mean-square errors (RMSEs, 0.314-0.602) compared to predictions made using APs estimated using the molecular fragment based method ABSOLV (0.45-0.716). For munition and munition-like compounds, adjusted QCAP has much lower RMSE (0.860) than does ABSOLV (4.45) which essentially fails for these compounds.

  14. The furan microsolvation blind challenge for quantum chemical methods: First steps

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gottschalk, Hannes C.; Poblotzki, Anja; Suhm, Martin A.; Al-Mogren, Muneerah M.; Antony, Jens; Auer, Alexander A.; Baptista, Leonardo; Benoit, David M.; Bistoni, Giovanni; Bohle, Fabian; Dahmani, Rahma; Firaha, Dzmitry; Grimme, Stefan; Hansen, Andreas; Harding, Michael E.; Hochlaf, Majdi; Holzer, Christof; Jansen, Georg; Klopper, Wim; Kopp, Wassja A.; Kröger, Leif C.; Leonhard, Kai; Mouhib, Halima; Neese, Frank; Pereira, Max N.; Ulusoy, Inga S.; Wuttke, Axel; Mata, Ricardo A.

    2018-01-01

    Herein we present the results of a blind challenge to quantum chemical methods in the calculation of dimerization preferences in the low temperature gas phase. The target of study was the first step of the microsolvation of furan, 2-methylfuran and 2,5-dimethylfuran with methanol. The dimers were investigated through IR spectroscopy of a supersonic jet expansion. From the measured bands, it was possible to identify a persistent hydrogen bonding OH-O motif in the predominant species. From the presence of another band, which can be attributed to an OH-π interaction, we were able to assert that the energy gap between the two types of dimers should be less than or close to 1 kJ/mol across the series. These values served as a first evaluation ruler for the 12 entries featured in the challenge. A tentative stricter evaluation of the challenge results is also carried out, combining theoretical and experimental results in order to define a smaller error bar. The process was carried out in a double-blind fashion, with both theory and experimental groups unaware of the results on the other side, with the exception of the 2,5-dimethylfuran system which was featured in an earlier publication.

  15. Application of high level wavefunction methods in quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics hybrid schemes.

    PubMed

    Mata, Ricardo A

    2010-05-21

    In this Perspective, several developments in the field of quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) approaches are reviewed. Emphasis is placed on the use of correlated wavefunction theory and new state of the art methods for the treatment of large quantum systems. Until recently, computational chemistry approaches to large/complex chemical problems have seldom been considered as tools for quantitative predictions. However, due to the tremendous development of computational resources and new quantum chemical methods, it is nowadays possible to describe the electronic structure of biomolecules at levels of theory which a decade ago were only possible for system sizes of up to 20 atoms. These advances are here outlined in the context of QM/MM. The article concludes with a short outlook on upcoming developments and possible bottlenecks for future applications.

  16. Protein structure refinement using a quantum mechanics-based chemical shielding predictor.

    PubMed

    Bratholm, Lars A; Jensen, Jan H

    2017-03-01

    The accurate prediction of protein chemical shifts using a quantum mechanics (QM)-based method has been the subject of intense research for more than 20 years but so far empirical methods for chemical shift prediction have proven more accurate. In this paper we show that a QM-based predictor of a protein backbone and CB chemical shifts (ProCS15, PeerJ , 2016, 3, e1344) is of comparable accuracy to empirical chemical shift predictors after chemical shift-based structural refinement that removes small structural errors. We present a method by which quantum chemistry based predictions of isotropic chemical shielding values (ProCS15) can be used to refine protein structures using Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulations, relating the chemical shielding values to the experimental chemical shifts probabilistically. Two kinds of MCMC structural refinement simulations were performed using force field geometry optimized X-ray structures as starting points: simulated annealing of the starting structure and constant temperature MCMC simulation followed by simulated annealing of a representative ensemble structure. Annealing of the CHARMM structure changes the CA-RMSD by an average of 0.4 Å but lowers the chemical shift RMSD by 1.0 and 0.7 ppm for CA and N. Conformational averaging has a relatively small effect (0.1-0.2 ppm) on the overall agreement with carbon chemical shifts but lowers the error for nitrogen chemical shifts by 0.4 ppm. If an amino acid specific offset is included the ProCS15 predicted chemical shifts have RMSD values relative to experiments that are comparable to popular empirical chemical shift predictors. The annealed representative ensemble structures differ in CA-RMSD relative to the initial structures by an average of 2.0 Å, with >2.0 Å difference for six proteins. In four of the cases, the largest structural differences arise in structurally flexible regions of the protein as determined by NMR, and in the remaining two cases, the large structural

  17. Recent Trends in Quantum Chemical Modeling of Enzymatic Reactions.

    PubMed

    Himo, Fahmi

    2017-05-24

    The quantum chemical cluster approach is a powerful method for investigating enzymatic reactions. Over the past two decades, a large number of highly diverse systems have been studied and a great wealth of mechanistic insight has been developed using this technique. This Perspective reviews the current status of the methodology. The latest technical developments are highlighted, and challenges are discussed. Some recent applications are presented to illustrate the capabilities and progress of this approach, and likely future directions are outlined.

  18. Quantum Chemical Studies of Actinides and Lanthanides: From Small Molecules to Nanoclusters

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vlaisavljevich, Bess

    Research into actinides is of high interest because of their potential applications as an energy source and for the environmental implications therein. Global concern has arisen since the development of the actinide concept in the 1940s led to the industrial scale use of the commercial nuclear energy cycle and nuclear weapons production. Large quantities of waste have been generated from these processes inspiring efforts to address fundamental questions in actinide science. In this regard, the objective of this work is to use theory to provide insight and predictions into actinide chemistry, where experimental work is extremely challenging because of the intrinsic difficulties of the experiments themselves and the safety issues associated with this type of chemistry. This thesis is a collection of theoretical studies of actinide chemistry falling into three categories: quantum chemical and matrix isolation studies of small molecules, the electronic structure of organoactinide systems, and uranyl peroxide nanoclusters and other solid state actinide compounds. The work herein not only spans a wide range of systems size but also investigates a range of chemical problems. Various quantum chemical approaches have been employed. Wave function-based methods have been used to study the electronic structure of actinide containing molecules of small to middle-size. Among these methods, the complete active space self consistent field (CASSCF) approach with corrections from second-order perturbation theory (CASPT2), the generalized active space SCF (GASSCF) approach, and Moller-Plesset second-order perturbation theory (MP2) have been employed. Likewise, density functional theory (DFT) has been used along with analysis tools like bond energy decomposition, bond orders, and Bader's Atoms in Molecules. From these quantum chemical results, comparison with experimentally obtained structures and spectra are made.

  19. Electron-beam generated porous dextran gels: experimental and quantum chemical studies.

    PubMed

    Naumov, Sergej; Knolle, Wolfgang; Becher, Jana; Schnabelrauch, Matthias; Reichelt, Senta

    2014-06-01

    The aim of this work was to investigate the reaction mechanism of electron-beam generated macroporous dextran cryogels by quantum chemical calculation and electron paramagnetic resonance measurements. Electron-beam radiation was used to initiate the cross-linking reaction of methacrylated dextran in semifrozen aqueous solutions. The pore morphology of the resulting cryogels was visualized by scanning electron microscopy. Quantum chemical calculations and electron paramagnetic resonance studies provided information on the most probable reaction pathway and the chain growth radicals. The most probable reaction pathway was a ring opening reaction and the addition of a C-atom to the double-bond of the methacrylated dextran molecule. First detailed quantum chemical calculation on the reaction mechanism of electron-beam initiated cross-linking reaction of methacrylated dextran are presented.

  20. Chemically Triggered Formation of Two-Dimensional Epitaxial Quantum Dot Superlattices.

    PubMed

    Walravens, Willem; De Roo, Jonathan; Drijvers, Emile; Ten Brinck, Stephanie; Solano, Eduardo; Dendooven, Jolien; Detavernier, Christophe; Infante, Ivan; Hens, Zeger

    2016-07-26

    Two dimensional superlattices of epitaxially connected quantum dots enable size-quantization effects to be combined with high charge carrier mobilities, an essential prerequisite for highly performing QD devices based on charge transport. Here, we demonstrate that surface active additives known to restore nanocrystal stoichiometry can trigger the formation of epitaxial superlattices of PbSe and PbS quantum dots. More specifically, we show that both chalcogen-adding (sodium sulfide) and lead oleate displacing (amines) additives induce small area epitaxial superlattices of PbSe quantum dots. In the latter case, the amine basicity is a sensitive handle to tune the superlattice symmetry, with strong and weak bases yielding pseudohexagonal or quasi-square lattices, respectively. Through density functional theory calculations and in situ titrations monitored by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, we link this observation to the concomitantly different coordination enthalpy and ligand displacement potency of the amine. Next to that, an initial ∼10% reduction of the initial ligand density prior to monolayer formation and addition of a mild, lead oleate displacing chemical trigger such as aniline proved key to induce square superlattices with long-range, square micrometer order; an effect that is the more pronounced the larger the quantum dots. Because the approach applies to PbS quantum dots as well, we conclude that it offers a reproducible and rational method for the formation of highly ordered epitaxial quantum dot superlattices.

  1. Ab initio Quantum Chemical and Experimental Reaction Kinetics Studies in the Combustion of Bipropellants

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2017-03-24

    NUMBER (Include area code) 24 March 2017 Briefing Charts 01 March 2017 - 31 March 2017 Ab initio Quantum Chemical and Experimental Reaction Kinetics...Laboratory AFRL/RQRS 1 Ara Road Edwards AFB, CA 93524 *Email: ghanshyam.vaghjiani@us.af.mil Ab initio Quantum Chemical and Experimental Reaction ...Clearance 17161 Zador et al., Prog. Energ. Combust. Sci., 37 371 (2011) Why Quantum Chemical Reaction Kinetics Studies? DISTRIBUTION A: Approved for

  2. Quantum chemical modeling of enzymatic reactions: the case of 4-oxalocrotonate tautomerase.

    PubMed

    Sevastik, Robin; Himo, Fahmi

    2007-12-01

    The reaction mechanism of 4-oxalocrotonate tautomerase (4-OT) is studied using the density functional theory method B3LYP. This enzyme catalyzes the isomerisation of unconjugated alpha-keto acids to their conjugated isomers. Two different quantum chemical models of the active site are devised and the potential energy curves for the reaction are computed. The calculations support the proposed reaction mechanism in which Pro-1 acts as a base to shuttle a proton from the C3 to the C5 position of the substrate. The first step (proton transfer from C3 to proline) is shown to be the rate-limiting step. The energy of the charge-separated intermediate (protonated proline-deprotonated substrate) is calculated to be quite low, in accordance with measured pKa values. The results of the two models are used to evaluate the methodology employed in modeling enzyme active sites using quantum chemical cluster models.

  3. Structural and vibrational spectral investigations of melaminium maleate monohydrate by FTIR, FT-Raman and quantum chemical calculations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Arjunan, V.; Kalaivani, M.; Marchewka, M. K.; Mohan, S.

    2013-04-01

    The structural investigations of the molecular complex of melamine with maleic acid, namely melaminium maleate monohydrate have been carried out by quantum chemical methods in addition to FTIR, FT-Raman and far-infrared spectral studies. The quantum chemical studies were performed with DFT (B3LYP) method using 6-31G**, cc-pVDZ and 6-311++G** basis sets to determine the energy, structural and thermodynamic parameters of melaminium maleate monohydrate. The hydrogen atom from maleic acid was transferred to the melamine molecule giving the singly protonated melaminium cation. The ability of ions to form spontaneous three-dimensional structure through weak Osbnd H⋯O and Nsbnd H⋯O hydrogen bonds shows notable vibrational effects.

  4. A versatile method for the determination of photochemical quantum yields via online UV-Vis spectroscopy.

    PubMed

    Stadler, Eduard; Eibel, Anna; Fast, David; Freißmuth, Hilde; Holly, Christian; Wiech, Mathias; Moszner, Norbert; Gescheidt, Georg

    2018-05-16

    We have developed a simple method for determining the quantum yields of photo-induced reactions. Our setup features a fibre coupled UV-Vis spectrometer, LED irradiation sources, and a calibrated spectrophotometer for precise measurements of the LED photon flux. The initial slope in time-resolved absorbance profiles provides the quantum yield. We show the feasibility of our methodology for the kinetic analysis of photochemical reactions and quantum yield determination. The typical chemical actinometers, ferrioxalate and ortho-nitrobenzaldehyde, as well as riboflavin, a spiro-compound, phosphorus- and germanium-based photoinitiators for radical polymerizations and the frequently utilized photo-switch azobenzene serve as paradigms. The excellent agreement of our results with published data demonstrates the high potential of the proposed method as a convenient alternative to the time-consuming chemical actinometry.

  5. Quantum Chemical Mass Spectrometry: Verification and Extension of the Mobile Proton Model for Histidine

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cautereels, Julie; Blockhuys, Frank

    2017-06-01

    The quantum chemical mass spectrometry for materials science (QCMS2) method is used to verify the proposed mechanism for proton transfer - the Mobile Proton Model (MPM) - by histidine for ten XHS tripeptides, based on quantum chemical calculations at the DFT/B3LYP/6-311+G* level of theory. The fragmentations of the different intermediate structures in the MPM mechanism are studied within the QCMS2 framework, and the energetics of the proposed mechanism itself and those of the fragmentations of the intermediate structures are compared, leading to the computational confirmation of the MPM. In addition, the calculations suggest that the mechanism should be extended from considering only the formation of five-membered ring intermediates to include larger-ring intermediates. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

  6. Biomimetic, Mild Chemical Synthesis of CdTe-GSH Quantum Dots with Improved Biocompatibility

    PubMed Central

    Pérez-Donoso, José M.; Monrás, Juan P.; Bravo, Denisse; Aguirre, Adam; Quest, Andrew F.; Osorio-Román, Igor O.; Aroca, Ricardo F.; Chasteen, Thomas G.; Vásquez, Claudio C.

    2012-01-01

    Multiple applications of nanotechnology, especially those involving highly fluorescent nanoparticles (NPs) or quantum dots (QDs) have stimulated the research to develop simple, rapid and environmentally friendly protocols for synthesizing NPs exhibiting novel properties and increased biocompatibility. In this study, a simple protocol for the chemical synthesis of glutathione (GSH)-capped CdTe QDs (CdTe-GSH) resembling conditions found in biological systems is described. Using only CdCl2, K2TeO3 and GSH, highly fluorescent QDs were obtained under pH, temperature, buffer and oxygen conditions that allow microorganisms growth. These CdTe-GSH NPs displayed similar size, chemical composition, absorbance and fluorescence spectra and quantum yields as QDs synthesized using more complicated and expensive methods. CdTe QDs were not freely incorporated into eukaryotic cells thus favoring their biocompatibility and potential applications in biomedicine. In addition, NPs entry was facilitated by lipofectamine, resulting in intracellular fluorescence and a slight increase in cell death by necrosis. Toxicity of the as prepared CdTe QDs was lower than that observed with QDs produced by other chemical methods, probably as consequence of decreased levels of Cd+2 and higher amounts of GSH. We present here the simplest, fast and economical method for CdTe QDs synthesis described to date. Also, this biomimetic protocol favors NPs biocompatibility and helps to establish the basis for the development of new, “greener” methods to synthesize cadmium-containing QDs. PMID:22292028

  7. Rhorix: An interface between quantum chemical topology and the 3D graphics program blender

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Mills, Matthew J. L.; Sale, Kenneth L.; Simmons, Blake A.

    Journal of Computational Chemistry Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Chemical research is assisted by the creation of visual representations that map concepts (such as atoms and bonds) to 3D objects. These concepts are rooted in chemical theory that predates routine solution of the Schrödinger equation for systems of interesting size. The method of Quantum Chemical Topology (QCT) provides an alternative, parameter-free means to understand chemical phenomena directly from quantum mechanical principles. Representation of the topological elements of QCT has lagged behind the best tools available. Here, we describe a general abstraction (and corresponding file format) that permits the definition ofmore » mappings between topological objects and their 3D representations. Possible mappings are discussed and a canonical example is suggested, which has been implemented as a Python “Add-On” named Rhorix for the state-of-the-art 3D modeling program Blender. This allows chemists to use modern drawing tools and artists to access QCT data in a familiar context. Finally, a number of examples are discussed..« less

  8. Rhorix: An interface between quantum chemical topology and the 3D graphics program blender

    PubMed Central

    Sale, Kenneth L.; Simmons, Blake A.; Popelier, Paul L. A.

    2017-01-01

    Chemical research is assisted by the creation of visual representations that map concepts (such as atoms and bonds) to 3D objects. These concepts are rooted in chemical theory that predates routine solution of the Schrödinger equation for systems of interesting size. The method of Quantum Chemical Topology (QCT) provides an alternative, parameter‐free means to understand chemical phenomena directly from quantum mechanical principles. Representation of the topological elements of QCT has lagged behind the best tools available. Here, we describe a general abstraction (and corresponding file format) that permits the definition of mappings between topological objects and their 3D representations. Possible mappings are discussed and a canonical example is suggested, which has been implemented as a Python “Add‐On” named Rhorix for the state‐of‐the‐art 3D modeling program Blender. This allows chemists to use modern drawing tools and artists to access QCT data in a familiar context. A number of examples are discussed. © 2017 The Authors. Journal of Computational Chemistry Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. PMID:28857244

  9. Rhorix: An interface between quantum chemical topology and the 3D graphics program blender

    DOE PAGES

    Mills, Matthew J. L.; Sale, Kenneth L.; Simmons, Blake A.; ...

    2017-08-31

    Journal of Computational Chemistry Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Chemical research is assisted by the creation of visual representations that map concepts (such as atoms and bonds) to 3D objects. These concepts are rooted in chemical theory that predates routine solution of the Schrödinger equation for systems of interesting size. The method of Quantum Chemical Topology (QCT) provides an alternative, parameter-free means to understand chemical phenomena directly from quantum mechanical principles. Representation of the topological elements of QCT has lagged behind the best tools available. Here, we describe a general abstraction (and corresponding file format) that permits the definition ofmore » mappings between topological objects and their 3D representations. Possible mappings are discussed and a canonical example is suggested, which has been implemented as a Python “Add-On” named Rhorix for the state-of-the-art 3D modeling program Blender. This allows chemists to use modern drawing tools and artists to access QCT data in a familiar context. Finally, a number of examples are discussed..« less

  10. Structural and vibrational spectral investigations of melaminium maleate monohydrate by FTIR, FT-Raman and quantum chemical calculations.

    PubMed

    Arjunan, V; Kalaivani, M; Marchewka, M K; Mohan, S

    2013-04-15

    The structural investigations of the molecular complex of melamine with maleic acid, namely melaminium maleate monohydrate have been carried out by quantum chemical methods in addition to FTIR, FT-Raman and far-infrared spectral studies. The quantum chemical studies were performed with DFT (B3LYP) method using 6-31G(**), cc-pVDZ and 6-311++G(**) basis sets to determine the energy, structural and thermodynamic parameters of melaminium maleate monohydrate. The hydrogen atom from maleic acid was transferred to the melamine molecule giving the singly protonated melaminium cation. The ability of ions to form spontaneous three-dimensional structure through weak OH···O and NH···O hydrogen bonds shows notable vibrational effects. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. Incorporation of Mn2+ into CdSe quantum dots by chemical bath co-deposition method for photovoltaic enhancement of quantum dot-sensitized solar cells

    PubMed Central

    Zhang, Chenguang; Liu, Shaowen; Liu, Xingwei; Deng, Fei

    2018-01-01

    A photoelectric conversion efficiency (PCE) of 4.9% was obtained under 100 mW cm−2 illumination by quantum-dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs) using a CdS/Mn : CdSe sensitizer. CdS quantum dots (QDs) were deposited on a TiO2 mesoporous oxide film by successive ionic layer absorption and reaction. Mn2+ doping into CdSe QDs is an innovative and simple method—chemical bath co-deposition, that is, mixing the Mn ion source with CdSe precursor solution for Mn : CdSe QD deposition. Compared with the CdS/CdSe sensitizer without Mn2+ incorporation, the PCE was increased from 3.4% to 4.9%. The effects of Mn2+ doping on the chemical, physical and photovoltaic properties of the QDSSCs were investigated by energy dispersive spectrometry, absorption spectroscopy, photocurrent density–voltage characteristics and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Mn-doped CdSe QDs in QDSSCs can obtain superior light absorption, faster electron transport and slower charge recombination than CdSe QDs. PMID:29657776

  12. Benchmarking quantum mechanical calculations with experimental NMR chemical shifts of 2-HADNT

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Yuemin; Junk, Thomas; Liu, Yucheng; Tzeng, Nianfeng; Perkins, Richard

    2015-04-01

    In this study, both GIAO-DFT and GIAO-MP2 calculations of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra were benchmarked with experimental chemical shifts. The experimental chemical shifts were determined experimentally for carbon-13 (C-13) of seven carbon atoms for the TNT degradation product 2-hydroxylamino-4,6-dinitrotoluene (2-HADNT). Quantum mechanics GIAO calculations were implemented using Becke-3-Lee-Yang-Parr (B3LYP) and other six hybrid DFT methods (Becke-1-Lee-Yang-Parr (B1LYP), Becke-half-and-half-Lee-Yang-Parr (BH and HLYP), Cohen-Handy-3-Lee-Yang-Parr (O3LYP), Coulomb-attenuating-B3LYP (CAM-B3LYP), modified-Perdew-Wang-91-Lee-Yang-Parr (mPW1LYP), and Xu-3-Lee-Yang-Parr (X3LYP)) which use the same correlation functional LYP. Calculation results showed that the GIAO-MP2 method gives the most accurate chemical shift values, and O3LYP method provides the best prediction of chemical shifts among the B3LYP and other five DFT methods. Three types of atomic partial charges, Mulliken (MK), electrostatic potential (ESP), and natural bond orbital (NBO), were also calculated using MP2/aug-cc-pVDZ method. A reasonable correlation was discovered between NBO partial charges and experimental chemical shifts of carbon-13 (C-13).

  13. Spectroscopic and chemical reactivity analysis of D-Myo-Inositol using quantum chemical approach and its experimental verification

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mishra, Devendra P.; Srivastava, Anchal; Shukla, R. K.

    2017-07-01

    This paper describes the spectroscopic (^1H and ^{13}C NMR, FT-IR and UV-Visible), chemical, nonlinear optical and thermodynamic properties of D-Myo-Inositol using quantum chemical technique and its experimental verification. The structural parameters of the compound are determined from the optimized geometry by B3LYP method with 6 {-}311{+}{+}G(d,p) basis set. It was found that the optimized parameters thus obtained are almost in agreement with the experimental ones. A detailed interpretation of the infrared spectra of D-Myo-Inositol is also reported in the present work. After optimization, the proton and carbon NMR chemical shifts of the studied compound are calculated using GIAO and 6 {-}311{+}{+}G(d,p) basis set. The search of organic materials with improved charge transfer properties requires precise quantum chemical calculations of space-charge density distribution, state and transition dipole moments and HOMO-LUMO states. The nature of the transitions in the observed UV-Visible spectrum of the compound has been studied by the time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT). The global reactivity descriptors like chemical potential, electronegativity, hardness, softness and electrophilicity index, have been calculated using DFT. The thermodynamic calculation related to the title compound was also performed at B3LYP/ 6 {-}311{+}{+}G(d,p) level of theory. The standard statistical thermodynamic functions like heat capacity at constant pressure, entropy and enthalpy change were obtained from the theoretical harmonic frequencies of the optimized molecule. It is observed that the values of heat capacity, entropy and enthalpy increase with increase in temperature from 100 to 1000 K, which is attributed to the enhancement of molecular vibration with the increase in temperature.

  14. How to compute isomerization energies of organic molecules with quantum chemical methods.

    PubMed

    Grimme, Stefan; Steinmetz, Marc; Korth, Martin

    2007-03-16

    The reaction energies for 34 typical organic isomerizations including oxygen and nitrogen heteroatoms are investigated with modern quantum chemical methods that have the perspective of also being applicable to large systems. The experimental reaction enthalpies are corrected for vibrational and thermal effects, and the thus derived "experimental" reaction energies are compared to corresponding theoretical data. A series of standard AO basis sets in combination with second-order perturbation theory (MP2, SCS-MP2), conventional density functionals (e.g., PBE, TPSS, B3-LYP, MPW1K, BMK), and new perturbative functionals (B2-PLYP, mPW2-PLYP) are tested. In three cases, obvious errors of the experimental values could be detected, and accurate coupled-cluster [CCSD(T)] reference values have been used instead. It is found that only triple-zeta quality AO basis sets provide results close enough to the basis set limit and that sets like the popular 6-31G(d) should be avoided in accurate work. Augmentation of small basis sets with diffuse functions has a notable effect in B3-LYP calculations that is attributed to intramolecular basis set superposition error and covers basic deficiencies of the functional. The new methods based on perturbation theory (SCS-MP2, X2-PLYP) are found to be clearly superior to many other approaches; that is, they provide mean absolute deviations of less than 1.2 kcal mol-1 and only a few (<10%) outliers. The best performance in the group of conventional functionals is found for the highly parametrized BMK hybrid meta-GGA. Contrary to accepted opinion, hybrid density functionals offer no real advantage over simple GGAs. For reasonably large AO basis sets, results of poor quality are obtained with the popular B3-LYP functional that cannot be recommended for thermochemical applications in organic chemistry. The results of this study are complementary to often used benchmarks based on atomization energies and should guide chemists in their search for

  15. Quantum chemical approaches to [NiFe] hydrogenase.

    PubMed

    Vaissier, Valerie; Van Voorhis, Troy

    2017-05-09

    The mechanism by which [NiFe] hydrogenase catalyses the oxidation of molecular hydrogen is a significant yet challenging topic in bioinorganic chemistry. With far-reaching applications in renewable energy and carbon mitigation, significant effort has been invested in the study of these complexes. In particular, computational approaches offer a unique perspective on how this enzyme functions at an electronic and atomistic level. In this article, we discuss state-of-the art quantum chemical methods and how they have helped deepen our comprehension of [NiFe] hydrogenase. We outline the key strategies that can be used to compute the (i) geometry, (ii) electronic structure, (iii) thermodynamics and (iv) kinetic properties associated with the enzymatic activity of [NiFe] hydrogenase and other bioinorganic complexes. © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Portland Press Limited on behalf of the Biochemical Society.

  16. Hybrid Methods in Quantum Information

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Marshall, Kevin

    Today, the potential power of quantum information processing comes as no surprise to physicist or science-fiction writer alike. However, the grand promises of this field remain unrealized, despite significant strides forward, due to the inherent difficulties of manipulating quantum systems. Simply put, it turns out that it is incredibly difficult to interact, in a controllable way, with the quantum realm when we seem to live our day to day lives in a classical world. In an effort to solve this challenge, people are exploring a variety of different physical platforms, each with their strengths and weaknesses, in hopes of developing new experimental methods that one day might allow us to control a quantum system. One path forward rests in combining different quantum systems in novel ways to exploit the benefits of different systems while circumventing their respective weaknesses. In particular, quantum systems come in two different flavours: either discrete-variable systems or continuous-variable ones. The field of hybrid quantum information seeks to combine these systems, in clever ways, to help overcome the challenges blocking the path between what is theoretically possible and what is achievable in a laboratory. In this thesis we explore four topics in the context of hybrid methods in quantum information, in an effort to contribute to the resolution of existing challenges and to stimulate new avenues of research. First, we explore the manipulation of a continuous-variable quantum system consisting of phonons in a linear chain of trapped ions where we use the discretized internal levels to mediate interactions. Using our proposed interaction we are able to implement, for example, the acoustic equivalent of a beam splitter with modest experimental resources. Next we propose an experimentally feasible implementation of the cubic phase gate, a primitive non-Gaussian gate required for universal continuous-variable quantum computation, based off sequential photon

  17. Spectroscopic, quantum chemical calculation and molecular docking of dipfluzine

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Srivastava, Karnica; Srivastava, Anubha; Tandon, Poonam; Sinha, Kirti; Wang, Jing

    2016-12-01

    Molecular structure and vibrational analysis of dipfluzine (C27H29FN2O) were presented using FT-IR and FT-Raman spectroscopy and quantum chemical calculations. The theoretical ground state geometry and electronic structure of dipfluzine are optimized by the DFT/B3LYP/6-311++G (d,p) method and compared with those of the crystal data. The 1D potential energy scan was performed by varying the dihedral angle using B3LYP functional at 6-31G(d,p) level of theory and thus the most stable conformer of the compound were determined. Molecular electrostatic potential surface (MEPS), frontier orbital analysis and electronic reactivity descriptor were used to predict the chemical reactivity of molecule. Energies of intra- and inter-molecular hydrogen bonds in molecule and their electronic aspects were investigated by natural bond orbital (NBO). To find out the anti-apoptotic activity of the title compound molecular docking studies have been performed against protein Fas.

  18. Novel systems and methods for quantum communication, quantum computation, and quantum simulation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gorshkov, Alexey Vyacheslavovich

    Precise control over quantum systems can enable the realization of fascinating applications such as powerful computers, secure communication devices, and simulators that can elucidate the physics of complex condensed matter systems. However, the fragility of quantum effects makes it very difficult to harness the power of quantum mechanics. In this thesis, we present novel systems and tools for gaining fundamental insights into the complex quantum world and for bringing practical applications of quantum mechanics closer to reality. We first optimize and show equivalence between a wide range of techniques for storage of photons in atomic ensembles. We describe experiments demonstrating the potential of our optimization algorithms for quantum communication and computation applications. Next, we combine the technique of photon storage with strong atom-atom interactions to propose a robust protocol for implementing the two-qubit photonic phase gate, which is an important ingredient in many quantum computation and communication tasks. In contrast to photon storage, many quantum computation and simulation applications require individual addressing of closely-spaced atoms, ions, quantum dots, or solid state defects. To meet this requirement, we propose a method for coherent optical far-field manipulation of quantum systems with a resolution that is not limited by the wavelength of radiation. While alkali atoms are currently the system of choice for photon storage and many other applications, we develop new methods for quantum information processing and quantum simulation with ultracold alkaline-earth atoms in optical lattices. We show how multiple qubits can be encoded in individual alkaline-earth atoms and harnessed for quantum computing and precision measurements applications. We also demonstrate that alkaline-earth atoms can be used to simulate highly symmetric systems exhibiting spin-orbital interactions and capable of providing valuable insights into strongly

  19. Sensitivity of ab Initio vs Empirical Methods in Computing Structural Effects on NMR Chemical Shifts for the Example of Peptides.

    PubMed

    Sumowski, Chris Vanessa; Hanni, Matti; Schweizer, Sabine; Ochsenfeld, Christian

    2014-01-14

    The structural sensitivity of NMR chemical shifts as computed by quantum chemical methods is compared to a variety of empirical approaches for the example of a prototypical peptide, the 38-residue kaliotoxin KTX comprising 573 atoms. Despite the simplicity of empirical chemical shift prediction programs, the agreement with experimental results is rather good, underlining their usefulness. However, we show in our present work that they are highly insensitive to structural changes, which renders their use for validating predicted structures questionable. In contrast, quantum chemical methods show the expected high sensitivity to structural and electronic changes. This appears to be independent of the quantum chemical approach or the inclusion of solvent effects. For the latter, explicit solvent simulations with increasing number of snapshots were performed for two conformers of an eight amino acid sequence. In conclusion, the empirical approaches neither provide the expected magnitude nor the patterns of NMR chemical shifts determined by the clearly more costly ab initio methods upon structural changes. This restricts the use of empirical prediction programs in studies where peptide and protein structures are utilized for the NMR chemical shift evaluation such as in NMR refinement processes, structural model verifications, or calculations of NMR nuclear spin relaxation rates.

  20. New chemical-DSMC method in numerical simulation of axisymmetric rarefied reactive flow

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zakeri, Ramin; Kamali Moghadam, Ramin; Mani, Mahmoud

    2017-04-01

    The modified quantum kinetic (MQK) chemical reaction model introduced by Zakeri et al. is developed for applicable cases in axisymmetric reactive rarefied gas flows using the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method. Although, the MQK chemical model uses some modifications in the quantum kinetic (QK) method, it also employs the general soft sphere collision model and Stockmayer potential function to properly select the collision pairs in the DSMC algorithm and capture both the attraction and repulsion intermolecular forces in rarefied gas flows. For assessment of the presented model in the simulation of more complex and applicable reacting flows, first, the air dissociation is studied in a single cell for equilibrium and non-equilibrium conditions. The MQK results agree well with the analytical and experimental data and they accurately predict the characteristics of the rarefied flowfield with chemical reaction. To investigate accuracy of the MQK chemical model in the simulation of the axisymmetric flow, air dissociation is also assessed in an axial hypersonic flow around two geometries, the sphere as a benchmark case and the blunt body (STS-2) as an applicable test case. The computed results including the transient, rotational and vibrational temperatures, species concentration in the stagnation line, and also the heat flux and pressure coefficient on the surface are compared with those of the other chemical methods like the QK and total collision energy (TCE) models and available analytical and experimental data. Generally, the MQK chemical model properly simulates the chemical reactions and predicts flowfield characteristics more accurate rather than the typical QK model. Although in some cases, results of the MQK approaches match with those of the TCE method, the main point is that the MQK does not need any experimental data or unrealistic assumption of specular boundary condition as used in the TCE method. Another advantage of the MQK model is the

  1. Intrinsic Atomic Orbitals: An Unbiased Bridge between Quantum Theory and Chemical Concepts.

    PubMed

    Knizia, Gerald

    2013-11-12

    Modern quantum chemistry can make quantitative predictions on an immense array of chemical systems. However, the interpretation of those predictions is often complicated by the complex wave function expansions used. Here we show that an exceptionally simple algebraic construction allows for defining atomic core and valence orbitals, polarized by the molecular environment, which can exactly represent self-consistent field wave functions. This construction provides an unbiased and direct connection between quantum chemistry and empirical chemical concepts, and can be used, for example, to calculate the nature of bonding in molecules, in chemical terms, from first principles. In particular, we find consistency with electronegativities (χ), C 1s core-level shifts, resonance substituent parameters (σR), Lewis structures, and oxidation states of transition-metal complexes.

  2. Radiation and quantum chemical studies of chalcone derivatives.

    PubMed

    Gaikwad, P; Priyadarsini, K I; Naumov, S; Rao, B S M

    2010-08-05

    The reactions of oxidizing radicals ((*)OH, Br(2)(*-), and SO(4)(*-)) with -OH-, -CH(3)-, or -NH(2)-substituted indole chalcones and hydroxy benzenoid chalcones were studied by radiation and quantum chemical methods. The (*)OH radical was found to react by addition at diffusion-controlled rates (k = 1.1-1.7 x 10(10) dm(3) mol(-1) s(-1)), but Br(2)(*-) radical reacted by 2 orders of magnitude lower. Quantum chemical calculations at the B3LYP/6-31+G(d,p) level of theory have shown that the (C2-OH)(*), (C11-OH)(*), and (C10-OH)(*) adducts of the indole chalcones and the (C7-OH)(*) and (C8-OH)(*) adducts of the hydroxy benzenoid chalcones are more stable with DeltaH = -39 to -28 kcal mol(-1) and DeltaG = -32 to -19 kcal mol(-1). This suggests that (*)OH addition to the alpha,beta-unsaturated bond is a major reaction channel in both types of chalcones and is barrierless. The stability and lack of dehydration of the (*)OH adducts arise from two factors: strong frontier orbital interaction due to the low energy gap between interacting orbitals and the negligible Coulombic repulsion due to small absolute values of Mulliken charges. The transient absorption spectrum measured in the (*)OH radical reaction with all the indole chalcone derivatives exhibited a maximum at 390 nm, which is in excellent agreement with the computed value (394 nm). The formation of three phenolic products under steady-state radiolysis is in line with the three stable (*)OH adducts predicted by theory. Independent of the substituent, identical spectra (lambda(max) = 330-360 and approximately 580 nm) were obtained on one-electron oxidation of the three indole chalcones. MO calculations predict the deprotonation from the -NH group is more efficient than from the substituent due to the larger electron density on the N1 atom forming the chalcone indolyl radical. Its reduction potential was determined to be 0.56 V from the ABTS(*-)/ABTS(2-) couple. In benzenoid chalcones, the (*)OH adduct spectrum is

  3. Quantum speedup of Monte Carlo methods.

    PubMed

    Montanaro, Ashley

    2015-09-08

    Monte Carlo methods use random sampling to estimate numerical quantities which are hard to compute deterministically. One important example is the use in statistical physics of rapidly mixing Markov chains to approximately compute partition functions. In this work, we describe a quantum algorithm which can accelerate Monte Carlo methods in a very general setting. The algorithm estimates the expected output value of an arbitrary randomized or quantum subroutine with bounded variance, achieving a near-quadratic speedup over the best possible classical algorithm. Combining the algorithm with the use of quantum walks gives a quantum speedup of the fastest known classical algorithms with rigorous performance bounds for computing partition functions, which use multiple-stage Markov chain Monte Carlo techniques. The quantum algorithm can also be used to estimate the total variation distance between probability distributions efficiently.

  4. Method for preparation and readout of polyatomic molecules in single quantum states

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Patterson, David

    2018-03-01

    Polyatomic molecular ions contain many desirable attributes of a useful quantum system, including rich internal degrees of freedom and highly controllable coupling to the environment. To date, the vast majority of state-specific experimental work on molecular ions has concentrated on diatomic species. The ability to prepare and read out polyatomic molecules in single quantum states would enable diverse experimental avenues not available with diatomics, including new applications in precision measurement, sensitive chemical and chiral analysis at the single-molecule level, and precise studies of Hz-level molecular tunneling dynamics. While cooling the motional state of a polyatomic ion via sympathetic cooling with a laser-cooled atomic ion is straightforward, coupling this motional state to the internal state of the molecule has proven challenging. Here we propose a method for readout and projective measurement of the internal state of a trapped polyatomic ion. The method exploits the rich manifold of technically accessible rotational states in the molecule to realize robust state preparation and readout with far less stringent engineering than quantum logic methods recently demonstrated on diatomic molecules. The method can be applied to any reasonably small (≲10 atoms) polyatomic ion with an anisotropic polarizability.

  5. High Color-Purity Green, Orange, and Red Light-Emitting Didoes Based on Chemically Functionalized Graphene Quantum Dots

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kwon, Woosung; Kim, Young-Hoon; Kim, Ji-Hee; Lee, Taehyung; Do, Sungan; Park, Yoonsang; Jeong, Mun Seok; Lee, Tae-Woo; Rhee, Shi-Woo

    2016-04-01

    Chemically derived graphene quantum dots (GQDs) to date have showed very broad emission linewidth due to many kinds of chemical bondings with different energy levels, which significantly degrades the color purity and color tunability. Here, we show that use of aniline derivatives to chemically functionalize GQDs generates new extrinsic energy levels that lead to photoluminescence of very narrow linewidths. We use transient absorption and time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopies to study the electronic structures and related electronic transitions of our GQDs, which reveals that their underlying carrier dynamics is strongly related to the chemical properties of aniline derivatives. Using these functionalized GQDs as lumophores, we fabricate light-emitting didoes (LEDs) that exhibit green, orange, and red electroluminescence that has high color purity. The maximum current efficiency of 3.47 cd A-1 and external quantum efficiency of 1.28% are recorded with our LEDs; these are the highest values ever reported for LEDs based on carbon-nanoparticle phosphors. This functionalization of GQDs with aniline derivatives represents a new method to fabricate LEDs that produce natural color.

  6. Determination of enthalpies of formation of energetic molecules with composite quantum chemical methods

    DOE PAGES

    Manaa, M. Riad; Fried, Laurence E.; Kuo, I-Feng W.

    2016-02-01

    We report gas-phase enthalpies of formation for the set of energetic molecules NTO, DADE, LLM-105, TNT, RDX, TATB, HMX, and PETN using the G2, G3, G4, and ccCA-PS3 quantum composite methods. Calculations for HMX and PETN hitherto represent the largest molecules attempted with these methods. G3 and G4 calculations are typically close to one another, with a larger difference found between these methods and ccCA-PS3. Furthermore there is significant uncertainty in experimental values, the mean absolute deviation between the average experimental value and calculations are 12, 6, 7, and 3 kcal/mol for G2, G3, G4, and ccCA-PS3, respectively.

  7. Recent developments of the quantum chemical cluster approach for modeling enzyme reactions.

    PubMed

    Siegbahn, Per E M; Himo, Fahmi

    2009-06-01

    The quantum chemical cluster approach for modeling enzyme reactions is reviewed. Recent applications have used cluster models much larger than before which have given new modeling insights. One important and rather surprising feature is the fast convergence with cluster size of the energetics of the reactions. Even for reactions with significant charge separation it has in some cases been possible to obtain full convergence in the sense that dielectric cavity effects from outside the cluster do not contribute to any significant extent. Direct comparisons between quantum mechanics (QM)-only and QM/molecular mechanics (MM) calculations for quite large clusters in a case where the results differ significantly have shown that care has to be taken when using the QM/MM approach where there is strong charge polarization. Insights from the methods used, generally hybrid density functional methods, have also led to possibilities to give reasonable error limits for the results. Examples are finally given from the most extensive study using the cluster model, the one of oxygen formation at the oxygen-evolving complex in photosystem II.

  8. Quantum speedup of Monte Carlo methods

    PubMed Central

    Montanaro, Ashley

    2015-01-01

    Monte Carlo methods use random sampling to estimate numerical quantities which are hard to compute deterministically. One important example is the use in statistical physics of rapidly mixing Markov chains to approximately compute partition functions. In this work, we describe a quantum algorithm which can accelerate Monte Carlo methods in a very general setting. The algorithm estimates the expected output value of an arbitrary randomized or quantum subroutine with bounded variance, achieving a near-quadratic speedup over the best possible classical algorithm. Combining the algorithm with the use of quantum walks gives a quantum speedup of the fastest known classical algorithms with rigorous performance bounds for computing partition functions, which use multiple-stage Markov chain Monte Carlo techniques. The quantum algorithm can also be used to estimate the total variation distance between probability distributions efficiently. PMID:26528079

  9. Quantum Chemical Prediction of Equilibrium Acidities of Ureas, Deltamides, Squaramides, and Croconamides.

    PubMed

    Ho, Junming; Zwicker, Vincent E; Yuen, Karen K Y; Jolliffe, Katrina A

    2017-10-06

    Robust quantum chemical methods are employed to predict the pK a 's of several families of dual hydrogen-bonding organocatalysts/anion receptors, including deltamides and croconamides as well as their thio derivatives. The average accuracy of these predictions is ∼1 pK a unit and allows for a comparison of the acidity between classes of receptors and for quantitative studies of substituent effects. These computational insights further explain the relationship between pK a and chloride anion affinity of these receptors that will be important for designing future anion receptors and organocatalysts.

  10. Protein Structure Validation and Refinement Using Amide Proton Chemical Shifts Derived from Quantum Mechanics

    PubMed Central

    Christensen, Anders S.; Linnet, Troels E.; Borg, Mikael; Boomsma, Wouter; Lindorff-Larsen, Kresten; Hamelryck, Thomas; Jensen, Jan H.

    2013-01-01

    We present the ProCS method for the rapid and accurate prediction of protein backbone amide proton chemical shifts - sensitive probes of the geometry of key hydrogen bonds that determine protein structure. ProCS is parameterized against quantum mechanical (QM) calculations and reproduces high level QM results obtained for a small protein with an RMSD of 0.25 ppm (r = 0.94). ProCS is interfaced with the PHAISTOS protein simulation program and is used to infer statistical protein ensembles that reflect experimentally measured amide proton chemical shift values. Such chemical shift-based structural refinements, starting from high-resolution X-ray structures of Protein G, ubiquitin, and SMN Tudor Domain, result in average chemical shifts, hydrogen bond geometries, and trans-hydrogen bond (h3 JNC') spin-spin coupling constants that are in excellent agreement with experiment. We show that the structural sensitivity of the QM-based amide proton chemical shift predictions is needed to obtain this agreement. The ProCS method thus offers a powerful new tool for refining the structures of hydrogen bonding networks to high accuracy with many potential applications such as protein flexibility in ligand binding. PMID:24391900

  11. Quantum chemical approach for condensed-phase thermochemistry (V): Development of rigid-body type harmonic solvation model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tarumi, Moto; Nakai, Hiromi

    2018-05-01

    This letter proposes an approximate treatment of the harmonic solvation model (HSM) assuming the solute to be a rigid body (RB-HSM). The HSM method can appropriately estimate the Gibbs free energy for condensed phases even where an ideal gas model used by standard quantum chemical programs fails. The RB-HSM method eliminates calculations for intra-molecular vibrations in order to reduce the computational costs. Numerical assessments indicated that the RB-HSM method can evaluate entropies and internal energies with the same accuracy as the HSM method but with lower calculation costs.

  12. Quantum Degeneracy in Atomic Point Contacts Revealed by Chemical Force and Conductance

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sugimoto, Yoshiaki; Ondráček, Martin; Abe, Masayuki; Pou, Pablo; Morita, Seizo; Perez, Ruben; Flores, Fernando; Jelínek, Pavel

    2013-09-01

    Quantum degeneracy is an important concept in quantum mechanics with large implications to many processes in condensed matter. Here, we show the consequences of electron energy level degeneracy on the conductance and the chemical force between two bodies at the atomic scale. We propose a novel way in which a scanning probe microscope can detect the presence of degenerate states in atomic-sized contacts even at room temperature. The tunneling conductance G and chemical binding force F between two bodies both tend to decay exponentially with distance in a certain distance range, usually maintaining direct proportionality G∝F. However, we show that a square relation G∝F2 arises as a consequence of quantum degeneracy between the interacting frontier states of the scanning tip and a surface atom. We demonstrate this phenomenon on the Si(111)-(7×7) surface reconstruction where the Si adatom possesses a strongly localized dangling-bond state at the Fermi level.

  13. Chemical Potential for the Interacting Classical Gas and the Ideal Quantum Gas Obeying a Generalized Exclusion Principle

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sevilla, F. J.; Olivares-Quiroz, L.

    2012-01-01

    In this work, we address the concept of the chemical potential [mu] in classical and quantum gases towards the calculation of the equation of state [mu] = [mu](n, T) where n is the particle density and "T" the absolute temperature using the methods of equilibrium statistical mechanics. Two cases seldom discussed in elementary textbooks are…

  14. Chemical potentials and thermodynamic characteristics of ideal Bose- and Fermi-gases in the region of quantum degeneracy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sotnikov, A. G.; Sereda, K. V.; Slyusarenko, Yu. V.

    2017-01-01

    Calculations of chemical potentials for ideal monatomic gases with Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac statistics as functions of temperature, across the temperature region that is typical for the collective quantum degeneracy effect, are presented. Numerical calculations are performed without any additional approximations, and explicit dependences of the chemical potentials on temperature are constructed at a fixed density of gas particles. Approximate polynomial dependences of chemical potentials on temperature are obtained that allow for the results to be used in further studies without re-applying the involved numerical methods. The ease of using the obtained representations is demonstrated on examples of deformation of distribution for a population of energy states at low temperatures, and on the impact of quantum statistics (exchange interaction) on the equations of state for ideal gases and some of the thermodynamic properties thereof. The results of this study essentially unify two opposite limiting cases in an intermediate region that are used to describe the equilibrium states of ideal gases, which are well known from university courses on statistical physics, thus adding value from an educational point of view.

  15. Vibrational, electronic and quantum chemical studies of 1,2,4-benzenetricarboxylic-1,2-anhydride.

    PubMed

    Arjunan, V; Raj, Arushma; Subramanian, S; Mohan, S

    2013-06-01

    The FTIR and FT-Raman spectra of 1,2,4-benzenetricarboxylic-1,2-anhydride (BTCA) have been recorded in the range 4000-400 and 4000-100 cm(-1), respectively. The complete vibrational assignments and analysis of BTCA have been performed. More support on the experimental findings was added from the quantum chemical studies performed with DFT (B3LYP, MP2, B3PW91) method using 6-311++G(**), 6-31G(**) and cc-pVTZ basis sets. The structural parameters, energies, thermodynamic parameters, vibrational frequencies and the NBO charges of BTCA were determined by the DFT method. The (1)H and (13)C isotropic chemical shifts (δ ppm) of BTCA with respect to TMS were also calculated using the gauge independent atomic orbital (GIAO) method and compared with the experimental data. The delocalization energies of different types of interactions were determined. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. Quantum chemical study of methane oxidation species

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jackels, Charles F.

    1993-01-01

    The research funded by this project has focused on quantum chemical investigations of molecular species thought to be important in the chemistry of the earth's upper and lower atmospheres. The body of this report contains brief discussions of the results of the several phases of this investigation. In many instances these results have been presented at scientific meetings and/or published in refereed journals. Those bibliographic references are given. In addition to the study of specific chemical systems, there were several phases during the course of this investigation where much of the effort went into the development and modification of computer codes necessary to carry out these calculations on the wide range of computer equipment used during this study. This type of code maintenance and development work did not generally result in publications and presentations, but a brief review is given.

  17. Automated chemical kinetic modeling via hybrid reactive molecular dynamics and quantum chemistry simulations.

    PubMed

    Döntgen, Malte; Schmalz, Felix; Kopp, Wassja A; Kröger, Leif C; Leonhard, Kai

    2018-06-13

    An automated scheme for obtaining chemical kinetic models from scratch using reactive molecular dynamics and quantum chemistry simulations is presented. This methodology combines the phase space sampling of reactive molecular dynamics with the thermochemistry and kinetics prediction capabilities of quantum mechanics. This scheme provides the NASA polynomial and modified Arrhenius equation parameters for all species and reactions that are observed during the simulation and supplies them in the ChemKin format. The ab initio level of theory for predictions is easily exchangeable and the presently used G3MP2 level of theory is found to reliably reproduce hydrogen and methane oxidation thermochemistry and kinetics data. Chemical kinetic models obtained with this approach are ready-to-use for, e.g., ignition delay time simulations, as shown for hydrogen combustion. The presented extension of the ChemTraYzer approach can be used as a basis for methodologically advancing chemical kinetic modeling schemes and as a black-box approach to generate chemical kinetic models.

  18. A survey of quantum Lyapunov control methods.

    PubMed

    Cong, Shuang; Meng, Fangfang

    2013-01-01

    The condition of a quantum Lyapunov-based control which can be well used in a closed quantum system is that the method can make the system convergent but not just stable. In the convergence study of the quantum Lyapunov control, two situations are classified: nondegenerate cases and degenerate cases. For these two situations, respectively, in this paper the target state is divided into four categories: the eigenstate, the mixed state which commutes with the internal Hamiltonian, the superposition state, and the mixed state which does not commute with the internal Hamiltonian. For these four categories, the quantum Lyapunov control methods for the closed quantum systems are summarized and analyzed. Particularly, the convergence of the control system to the different target states is reviewed, and how to make the convergence conditions be satisfied is summarized and analyzed.

  19. A Survey of Quantum Lyapunov Control Methods

    PubMed Central

    2013-01-01

    The condition of a quantum Lyapunov-based control which can be well used in a closed quantum system is that the method can make the system convergent but not just stable. In the convergence study of the quantum Lyapunov control, two situations are classified: nondegenerate cases and degenerate cases. For these two situations, respectively, in this paper the target state is divided into four categories: the eigenstate, the mixed state which commutes with the internal Hamiltonian, the superposition state, and the mixed state which does not commute with the internal Hamiltonian. For these four categories, the quantum Lyapunov control methods for the closed quantum systems are summarized and analyzed. Particularly, the convergence of the control system to the different target states is reviewed, and how to make the convergence conditions be satisfied is summarized and analyzed. PMID:23766732

  20. A general intermolecular force field based on tight-binding quantum chemical calculations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Grimme, Stefan; Bannwarth, Christoph; Caldeweyher, Eike; Pisarek, Jana; Hansen, Andreas

    2017-10-01

    A black-box type procedure is presented for the generation of a molecule-specific, intermolecular potential energy function. The method uses quantum chemical (QC) information from our recently published extended tight-binding semi-empirical scheme (GFN-xTB) and can treat non-covalently bound complexes and aggregates with almost arbitrary chemical structure. The necessary QC information consists of the equilibrium structure, Mulliken atomic charges, charge centers of localized molecular orbitals, and also of frontier orbitals and orbital energies. The molecular pair potential includes model density dependent Pauli repulsion, penetration, as well as point charge electrostatics, the newly developed D4 dispersion energy model, Drude oscillators for polarization, and a charge-transfer term. Only one element-specific and about 20 global empirical parameters are needed to cover systems with nuclear charges up to radon (Z = 86). The method is tested for standard small molecule interaction energy benchmark sets where it provides accurate intermolecular energies and equilibrium distances. Examples for structures with a few hundred atoms including charged systems demonstrate the versatility of the approach. The method is implemented in a stand-alone computer code which enables rigid-body, global minimum energy searches for molecular aggregation or alignment.

  1. A Quantum-Based Similarity Method in Virtual Screening.

    PubMed

    Al-Dabbagh, Mohammed Mumtaz; Salim, Naomie; Himmat, Mubarak; Ahmed, Ali; Saeed, Faisal

    2015-10-02

    One of the most widely-used techniques for ligand-based virtual screening is similarity searching. This study adopted the concepts of quantum mechanics to present as state-of-the-art similarity method of molecules inspired from quantum theory. The representation of molecular compounds in mathematical quantum space plays a vital role in the development of quantum-based similarity approach. One of the key concepts of quantum theory is the use of complex numbers. Hence, this study proposed three various techniques to embed and to re-represent the molecular compounds to correspond with complex numbers format. The quantum-based similarity method that developed in this study depending on complex pure Hilbert space of molecules called Standard Quantum-Based (SQB). The recall of retrieved active molecules were at top 1% and top 5%, and significant test is used to evaluate our proposed methods. The MDL drug data report (MDDR), maximum unbiased validation (MUV) and Directory of Useful Decoys (DUD) data sets were used for experiments and were represented by 2D fingerprints. Simulated virtual screening experiment show that the effectiveness of SQB method was significantly increased due to the role of representational power of molecular compounds in complex numbers forms compared to Tanimoto benchmark similarity measure.

  2. Quantum Monte Carlo tunneling from quantum chemistry to quantum annealing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mazzola, Guglielmo; Smelyanskiy, Vadim N.; Troyer, Matthias

    2017-10-01

    Quantum tunneling is ubiquitous across different fields, from quantum chemical reactions and magnetic materials to quantum simulators and quantum computers. While simulating the real-time quantum dynamics of tunneling is infeasible for high-dimensional systems, quantum tunneling also shows up in quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations, which aim to simulate quantum statistics with resources growing only polynomially with the system size. Here we extend the recent results obtained for quantum spin models [Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 180402 (2016), 10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.180402], and we study continuous-variable models for proton transfer reactions. We demonstrate that QMC simulations efficiently recover the scaling of ground-state tunneling rates due to the existence of an instanton path, which always connects the reactant state with the product. We discuss the implications of our results in the context of quantum chemical reactions and quantum annealing, where quantum tunneling is expected to be a valuable resource for solving combinatorial optimization problems.

  3. QSAR, DFT and quantum chemical studies on the inhibition potentials of some carbozones for the corrosion of mild steel in HCl.

    PubMed

    Eddy, Nnabuk O; Ita, Benedict I

    2011-02-01

    Experimental aspects of the inhibition of the corrosion of mild steel in HCl solutions by some carbozones were studied using gravimetric, thermometric and gasometric methods, while a theoretical study was carried out using density functional theory, a quantitative structure-activity relation, and quantum chemical principles. The results obtained indicated that the studied carbozones are good adsorption inhibitors for the corrosion of mild steel in HCl. The inhibition efficiencies of the studied carbozones were found to increase with increasing concentration of the respective inhibitor. A strong correlation was found between the average inhibition efficiency and some quantum chemical parameters, and also between the experimental and theoretical inhibition efficiencies (obtained from the quantitative structure-activity relation).

  4. Quantum mechanical model for the anticarcinogenic effect of extremely-low-frequency electromagnetic fields on early chemical hepatocarcinogenesis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Godina-Nava, Juan José; Torres-Vega, Gabino; López-Riquelme, Germán Octavio; López-Sandoval, Eduardo; Samana, Arturo Rodolfo; García Velasco, Fermín; Hernández-Aguilar, Claudia; Domínguez-Pacheco, Arturo

    2017-02-01

    Using the conventional Haberkorn approach, it is evaluated the recombination of the radical pair (RP) singlet spin state to study theoretically the cytoprotective effect of an extremely-low-frequency electromagnetic field (ELF-EMF) on early stages of hepatic cancer chemically induced in rats. The proposal is that ELF-EMF modulates the interconversion rate of singlet and triplet spin states of the RP populations modifying the products from the metabolization of carcinogens. Previously, we found that the daily treatment with ELF-EMF 120 Hz inhibited the number and area of preneoplastic lesions in chemical carcinogenesis. The singlet spin population is evaluated diagonalizing the spin density matrix through the Lanczos method in a radical pair mechanism (RPM). Using four values of the interchange energy, we have studied the variations over the singlet population. The low magnetic field effect as a test of the influence over the enzymatic chemical reaction is evaluated calculating the quantum yield. Through a bootstrap technique the range is found for the singlet decay rate for the process. Applying the quantum measurements concept, we addressed the impact toward hepatic cells. The result contributes to improving our understanding of the chemical carcinogenesis process affected by charged particles that damage the DNA.

  5. Empirical, thermodynamic and quantum-chemical investigations of inclusion complexation between flavanones and (2-hydroxypropyl)-cyclodextrins.

    PubMed

    Liu, Benguo; Li, Wei; Nguyen, Tien An; Zhao, Jian

    2012-09-15

    The inclusion complexation of (2-hydroxypropyl)-cyclodextrins with flavanones was investigated by phase solubility measurements, as well as thermodynamic and quantum chemical methods. Inclusion complexes were formed between (2-hydroxypropyl)-α-cyclodextrin (HP-α-CD), (2-hydroxypropyl)-β-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CD), (2-hydroxypropyl)-γ-cyclodextrin (HP-γ-CD) and β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) and four flavanones (naringenin, naringin, hesperetin and dihydromyricetin) in aqueous solutions and their phase solubility was determined. For all the flavanones, the stability constants of their complexes formed with different CDs followed the rank order: HP-β-CD (MW 1540)>HP-β-CD (MW 1460)>HP-β-CD (MW 1380)>β-CD>HP-γ-CD>HP-α-CD. Experimental results and quantum chemical calculations showed that the ability of flavanones to form inclusion complex with (2-hydroxypropyl)-cyclodextrins was determined by both the steric effect and hydrophobicity of the flavanones. For flavanones that have similar molecular volumes, the hydrophobicity of the molecule was the main determining factor of its ability to form inclusion complexes with HP-β-CD, and the hydrophobicity parameter Log P is highly correlated with the stability constant of the complexes. Results of thermodynamic study demonstrated that hydrophobic interaction is the main driving force for the formation process of the flavanone-CD inclusion complexes. Quantum chemical analysis of the most active hydroxyl groups and HOMO (the highest occupied molecular orbital) showed that the B ring of the flavanones was most likely involved in hydrogen bonding with the side groups in the cavity of the CDs, through which the inclusion complex was stabilised. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Theoretical determination of chemical rate constants using novel time-dependent methods

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Dateo, Christopher E.

    1994-01-01

    The work completed within the grant period 10/1/91 through 12/31/93 falls primarily in the area of reaction dynamics using both quantum and classical mechanical methodologies. Essentially four projects have been completed and have been or are in preparation of being published. The majority of time was spent in the determination of reaction rate coefficients in the area of hydrocarbon fuel combustion reactions which are relevant to NASA's High Speed Research Program (HSRP). These reaction coefficients are important in the design of novel jet engines with low NOx emissions, which through a series of catalytic reactions contribute to the deterioration of the earth's ozone layer. A second area of research studied concerned the control of chemical reactivity using ultrashort (femtosecond) laser pulses. Recent advances in pulsed-laser technologies have opened up a vast new field to be investigated both experimentally and theoretically. The photodissociation of molecules adsorbed on surfaces using novel time-independent quantum mechanical methods was a third project. And finally, using state-of-the-art, high level ab initio electronic structure methods in conjunction with accurate quantum dynamical methods, the rovibrational energy levels of a triatomic molecule with two nonhydrogen atoms (HCN) were calculated to unprecedented levels of agreement between theory and experiment.

  7. Quantum chemical modeling of zeolite-catalyzed methylation reactions: toward chemical accuracy for barriers.

    PubMed

    Svelle, Stian; Tuma, Christian; Rozanska, Xavier; Kerber, Torsten; Sauer, Joachim

    2009-01-21

    The methylation of ethene, propene, and t-2-butene by methanol over the acidic microporous H-ZSM-5 catalyst has been investigated by a range of computational methods. Density functional theory (DFT) with periodic boundary conditions (PBE functional) fails to describe the experimentally determined decrease of apparent energy barriers with the alkene size due to inadequate description of dispersion forces. Adding a damped dispersion term expressed as a parametrized sum over atom pair C(6) contributions leads to uniformly underestimated barriers due to self-interaction errors. A hybrid MP2:DFT scheme is presented that combines MP2 energy calculations on a series of cluster models of increasing size with periodic DFT calculations, which allows extrapolation to the periodic MP2 limit. Additionally, errors caused by the use of finite basis sets, contributions of higher order correlation effects, zero-point vibrational energy, and thermal contributions to the enthalpy were evaluated and added to the "periodic" MP2 estimate. This multistep approach leads to enthalpy barriers at 623 K of 104, 77, and 48 kJ/mol for ethene, propene, and t-2-butene, respectively, which deviate from the experimentally measured values by 0, +13, and +8 kJ/mol. Hence, enthalpy barriers can be calculated with near chemical accuracy, which constitutes significant progress in the quantum chemical modeling of reactions in heterogeneous catalysis in general and microporous zeolites in particular.

  8. An orientation analysis method for protein immobilized on quantum dot particles

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Aoyagi, Satoka; Inoue, Masae

    2009-11-01

    The evaluation of orientation of biomolecules immobilized on nanodevices is crucial for the development of high performance devices. Such analysis requires ultra high sensitivity so as to be able to detect less than one molecular layer on a device. Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) has sufficient sensitivity to evaluate the uppermost surface structure of a single molecular layer. The objective of this study is to develop an orientation analysis method for proteins immobilized on nanomaterials such as quantum dot particles, and to evaluate the orientation of streptavidin immobilized on quantum dot particles by means of TOF-SIMS. In order to detect fragment ions specific to the protein surface, a monoatomic primary ion source (Ga +) and a cluster ion source (Au 3+) were employed. Streptavidin-immobilized quantum dot particles were immobilized on aminosilanized ITO glass plates at amino groups by covalent bonding. The reference samples streptavidin directly immobilized on ITO plates were also prepared. All samples were dried with a freeze dryer before TOF-SIMS measurement. The positive secondary ion spectra of each sample were obtained using TOF-SIMS with Ga + and Au 3+, respectively, and then they were compared so as to characterize each sample and detect the surface structure of the streptavidin immobilized with the biotin-immobilized quantum dots. The chemical structures of the upper surface of the streptavidin molecules immobilized on the quantum dot particles were evaluated with TOF-SIMS spectra analysis. The indicated surface side of the streptavidin molecules immobilized on the quantum dots includes the biotin binding site.

  9. Conformational, structural, vibrational and quantum chemical analysis on 4-aminobenzohydrazide and 4-hydroxybenzohydrazide--a comparative study.

    PubMed

    Arjunan, V; Jayaprakash, A; Carthigayan, K; Periandy, S; Mohan, S

    2013-05-01

    Experimental and theoretical quantum chemical studies were carried out on 4-hydroxybenzohydrazide (4HBH) and 4-aminobenzohydrazide (4ABH) using FTIR and FT-Raman spectral data. The structural characteristics and vibrational spectroscopic analysis were carried performed by quantum chemical methods with the hybrid exchange-correlation functional B3LYP using 6-31G(**), 6-311++G(**) and aug-cc-pVDZ basis sets. The most stable conformer of the title compounds have been determined from the analysis of potential energy surface. The stable molecular geometries, electronic and thermodynamic parameters, IR intensities, harmonic vibrational frequencies, depolarisation ratio and Raman intensities have been computed. Molecular electrostatic potential and frontier molecular orbitals were constructed to understand the electronic properties. The potential energy distributions (PEDs) were calculated to explain the mixing of fundamental modes. The theoretical geometrical parameters and the fundamental frequencies were compared with the experimental. The interactions of hydroxy and amino group substitutions on the characteristic vibrations of the ring and hydrazide group have been analysed. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  10. Thermal transformation of bioactive caffeic acid on fumed silica seen by UV-Vis spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, temperature programmed desorption mass spectrometry and quantum chemical methods.

    PubMed

    Kulik, Tetiana V; Lipkovska, Natalia O; Barvinchenko, Valentyna M; Palyanytsya, Borys B; Kazakova, Olga A; Dudik, Olesia O; Menyhárd, Alfréd; László, Krisztina

    2016-05-15

    Thermochemical studies of hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives and their surface complexes are important for the pharmaceutical industry, medicine and for the development of technologies of heterogeneous biomass pyrolysis. In this study, structural and thermal transformations of caffeic acid complexes on silica surfaces were studied by UV-Vis spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, temperature programmed desorption mass spectrometry (TPD MS) and quantum chemical methods. Two types of caffeic acid surface complexes are found to form through phenolic or carboxyl groups. The kinetic parameters of the chemical reactions of caffeic acid on silica surface are calculated. The mechanisms of thermal transformations of the caffeic chemisorbed surface complexes are proposed. Thermal decomposition of caffeic acid complex chemisorbed through grafted ester group proceeds via three parallel reactions, producing ketene, vinyl and acetylene derivatives of 1,2-dihydroxybenzene. Immobilization of phenolic acids on the silica surface improves greatly their thermal stability. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. Proton chemical shift tensors determined by 3D ultrafast MAS double-quantum NMR spectroscopy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Rongchun; Mroue, Kamal H.; Ramamoorthy, Ayyalusamy

    2015-10-01

    Proton NMR spectroscopy in the solid state has recently attracted much attention owing to the significant enhancement in spectral resolution afforded by the remarkable advances in ultrafast magic angle spinning (MAS) capabilities. In particular, proton chemical shift anisotropy (CSA) has become an important tool for obtaining specific insights into inter/intra-molecular hydrogen bonding. However, even at the highest currently feasible spinning frequencies (110-120 kHz), 1H MAS NMR spectra of rigid solids still suffer from poor resolution and severe peak overlap caused by the strong 1H-1H homonuclear dipolar couplings and narrow 1H chemical shift (CS) ranges, which render it difficult to determine the CSA of specific proton sites in the standard CSA/single-quantum (SQ) chemical shift correlation experiment. Herein, we propose a three-dimensional (3D) 1H double-quantum (DQ) chemical shift/CSA/SQ chemical shift correlation experiment to extract the CS tensors of proton sites whose signals are not well resolved along the single-quantum chemical shift dimension. As extracted from the 3D spectrum, the F1/F3 (DQ/SQ) projection provides valuable information about 1H-1H proximities, which might also reveal the hydrogen-bonding connectivities. In addition, the F2/F3 (CSA/SQ) correlation spectrum, which is similar to the regular 2D CSA/SQ correlation experiment, yields chemical shift anisotropic line shapes at different isotropic chemical shifts. More importantly, since the F2/F1 (CSA/DQ) spectrum correlates the CSA with the DQ signal induced by two neighboring proton sites, the CSA spectrum sliced at a specific DQ chemical shift position contains the CSA information of two neighboring spins indicated by the DQ chemical shift. If these two spins have different CS tensors, both tensors can be extracted by numerical fitting. We believe that this robust and elegant single-channel proton-based 3D experiment provides useful atomistic-level structural and dynamical information for

  12. A quantum–quantum Metropolis algorithm

    PubMed Central

    Yung, Man-Hong; Aspuru-Guzik, Alán

    2012-01-01

    The classical Metropolis sampling method is a cornerstone of many statistical modeling applications that range from physics, chemistry, and biology to economics. This method is particularly suitable for sampling the thermal distributions of classical systems. The challenge of extending this method to the simulation of arbitrary quantum systems is that, in general, eigenstates of quantum Hamiltonians cannot be obtained efficiently with a classical computer. However, this challenge can be overcome by quantum computers. Here, we present a quantum algorithm which fully generalizes the classical Metropolis algorithm to the quantum domain. The meaning of quantum generalization is twofold: The proposed algorithm is not only applicable to both classical and quantum systems, but also offers a quantum speedup relative to the classical counterpart. Furthermore, unlike the classical method of quantum Monte Carlo, this quantum algorithm does not suffer from the negative-sign problem associated with fermionic systems. Applications of this algorithm include the study of low-temperature properties of quantum systems, such as the Hubbard model, and preparing the thermal states of sizable molecules to simulate, for example, chemical reactions at an arbitrary temperature. PMID:22215584

  13. Double quantum coherence ESR spectroscopy and quantum chemical calculations on a BDPA biradical.

    PubMed

    Haeri, Haleh Hashemi; Spindler, Philipp; Plackmeyer, Jörn; Prisner, Thomas

    2016-10-26

    Carbon-centered radicals are interesting alternatives to otherwise commonly used nitroxide spin labels for dipolar spectroscopy techniques because of their narrow ESR linewidth. Herein, we present a novel BDPA biradical, where two BDPA (α,α,γ,γ-bisdiphenylene-β-phenylallyl) radicals are covalently tethered by a saturated biphenyl acetylene linker. The inter-spin distance between the two spin carrier fragments was measured using double quantum coherence (DQC) ESR methodology. The DQC experiment revealed a mean distance of only 1.8 nm between the two unpaired electron spins. This distance is shorter than the predictions based on a simple modelling of the biradical geometry with the electron spins located at the central carbon atoms. Therefore, DFT (density functional theory) calculations were performed to obtain a picture of the spin delocalization, which may give rise to a modified dipolar interaction tensor, and to find those conformations that correspond best to the experimentally observed inter-spin distance. Quantum chemical calculations showed that the attachment of the biphenyl acetylene linker at the second position of the fluorenyl ring of BDPA did not affect the spin population or geometry of the BDPA radical. Therefore, spin delocalization and geometry optimization of each BDPA moiety could be performed on the monomeric unit alone. The allylic dihedral angle θ 1 between the fluorenyl rings in the monomer subunit was determined to be 30° or 150° using quantum chemical calculations. The proton hyperfine coupling constant calculated from both energy minima was in very good agreement with literature values. Based on the optimal monomer geometries and spin density distributions, the dipolar coupling interaction between both BDPA units could be calculated for several dimer geometries. It was shown that the rotation of the BDPA units around the linker axis (θ 2 ) does not significantly influence the dipolar coupling strength when compared to the allylic

  14. Spectroscopic studies and quantum chemical investigations of (3,4-dimethoxybenzylidene) propanedinitrile

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gupta, Ujval; Kumar, Vinay; Singh, Vivek K.; Kant, Rajni; Khajuria, Yugal

    2015-04-01

    The Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), Ultra-Violet Visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy and Thermogravimetric (TG) analysis of (3,4-dimethoxybenzylidene) propanedinitrile have been carried out and investigated using quantum chemical calculations. The molecular geometry, harmonic vibrational frequencies, Mulliken charges, natural atomic charges and thermodynamic properties in the ground state have been investigated by using Hartree Fock Theory (HF) and Density Functional Theory (DFT) using B3LYP functional with 6-311G(d,p) basis set. Both HF and DFT methods yield good agreement with the experimental data. Vibrational modes are assigned with the help of Vibrational Energy Distribution Analysis (VEDA) program. UV-Visible spectrum was recorded in the spectral range of 190-800 nm and the results are compared with the calculated values using TD-DFT approach. Stability of the molecule arising from hyperconjugative interactions, charge delocalization have been analyzed using natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis. The results obtained from the studies of Highest Occupied Molecular Orbital (HOMO) and Lowest Unoccupied Molecular Orbital (LUMO) are used to calculate molecular parameters like ionization potential, electron affinity, global hardness, electron chemical potential and global electrophilicity.

  15. Cluster Quantum Chemical Study of the Grignard Reagent Formation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tulub, A. V.; Porsev, V. V.

    The main stages of the Grignard reagent formation are described in a framework of quantum chemical cluster model. We have established two kinds of the adsorption of CH3Hal on Mgn clusters, one of which leads to radical formation and the second is responsible for radical free dissociate adsorption. The charge redistribution in cluster CH3MgnHal result to the strong electrostatic interaction with ether and Grignard reagent formation without any activation barrier.

  16. Lighting up micromotors with quantum dots for smart chemical sensing.

    PubMed

    Jurado-Sánchez, B; Escarpa, A; Wang, J

    2015-09-25

    A new "on-the-fly" chemical optical detection strategy based on the incorporation of fluorescence CdTe quantum dots (QDs) on the surface of self-propelled tubular micromotors is presented. The motion-accelerated binding of trace Hg to the QDs selectively quenches the fluorescence emission and leads to an effective discrimination between different mercury species and other co-existing ions.

  17. Bond additivity corrections for quantum chemistry methods

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    C. F. Melius; M. D. Allendorf

    1999-04-01

    In the 1980's, the authors developed a bond-additivity correction procedure for quantum chemical calculations called BAC-MP4, which has proven reliable in calculating the thermochemical properties of molecular species, including radicals as well as stable closed-shell species. New Bond Additivity Correction (BAC) methods have been developed for the G2 method, BAC-G2, as well as for a hybrid DFT/MP2 method, BAC-Hybrid. These BAC methods use a new form of BAC corrections, involving atomic, molecular, and bond-wise additive terms. These terms enable one to treat positive and negative ions as well as neutrals. The BAC-G2 method reduces errors in the G2 method duemore » to nearest-neighbor bonds. The parameters within the BAC-G2 method only depend on atom types. Thus the BAC-G2 method can be used to determine the parameters needed by BAC methods involving lower levels of theory, such as BAC-Hybrid and BAC-MP4. The BAC-Hybrid method should scale well for large molecules. The BAC-Hybrid method uses the differences between the DFT and MP2 as an indicator of the method's accuracy, while the BAC-G2 method uses its internal methods (G1 and G2MP2) to provide an indicator of its accuracy. Indications of the average error as well as worst cases are provided for each of the BAC methods.« less

  18. The effect of precursor on the optical properties of carbon quantum dots synthesized by hydrothermal/solvothermal method

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mozdbar, Afsaneh; Nouralishahi, Amideddin; Fatemi, Shohreh; Mirakhori, Ghazaleh

    2018-01-01

    In the recent decade, Carbon Quantum Dots (CQDs) have attracted lots of attention due to their excellent properties such as tunable photoluminescence, high chemical stability, low toxicity, and biocompatibility. Among all synthesis methods, the hydrothermal/solvothermal rout has been considered as one of the most common and simplest method. The type of precursors can affect the size of CQDs and determine their surface functional groups, the essential properties that deeply influence the optical specifications. In this work, the effect of different precursors on the final properties of carbon quantum dots is investigated. The carbon quantum dots were synthesized by hydrothermal/solvothermal rout using citric acid, thiourea, ethylamine and monoethanolamine as precursors in almost the same conditions of time and temperature. Resultant CQDs were characterized by using FTIR, UV-Visible Spectroscopy and Photoluminescence (PL) analysis. The results of UV-Vis spectroscopy showed that quantum dots synthesized from monoethanolamine have wider absorption band rather than the CQDs from other precursors and the absorption edge shifted from about 270 nm for ethylamine to about 470 nm in monoethanolamine. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that using citric acid and monoethanolamine as precursor improved production efficiency and emission quantum yield of the carbon dots.

  19. Tuning electronic properties in graphene quantum dots by chemical functionalization: Density functional theory calculations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Abdelsalam, Hazem; Elhaes, Hanan; Ibrahim, Medhat A.

    2018-03-01

    The energy gap and dipole moment of chemically functionalized graphene quantum dots are investigated by density functional theory. The energy gap can be tuned through edge passivation by different elements or groups. Edge passivation by oxygen considerably decreases the energy gap in hexagonal nanodots. Edge states in triangular quantum dots can also be manipulated by passivation with fluorine. The dipole moment depends on: (a) shape and edge termination of the quantum dot, (b) attached group, and (c) position to which the groups are attached. Depending on the position of attached groups, the total dipole can be increased, decreased, or eliminated.

  20. The successful merger of theoretical thermochemistry with fragment-based methods in quantum chemistry.

    PubMed

    Ramabhadran, Raghunath O; Raghavachari, Krishnan

    2014-12-16

    CONSPECTUS: Quantum chemistry and electronic structure theory have proven to be essential tools to the experimental chemist, in terms of both a priori predictions that pave the way for designing new experiments and rationalizing experimental observations a posteriori. Translating the well-established success of electronic structure theory in obtaining the structures and energies of small chemical systems to increasingly larger molecules is an exciting and ongoing central theme of research in quantum chemistry. However, the prohibitive computational scaling of highly accurate ab initio electronic structure methods poses a fundamental challenge to this research endeavor. This scenario necessitates an indirect fragment-based approach wherein a large molecule is divided into small fragments and is subsequently reassembled to compute its energy accurately. In our quest to further reduce the computational expense associated with the fragment-based methods and overall enhance the applicability of electronic structure methods to large molecules, we realized that the broad ideas involved in a different area, theoretical thermochemistry, are transferable to the area of fragment-based methods. This Account focuses on the effective merger of these two disparate frontiers in quantum chemistry and how new concepts inspired by theoretical thermochemistry significantly reduce the total number of electronic structure calculations needed to be performed as part of a fragment-based method without any appreciable loss of accuracy. Throughout, the generalized connectivity based hierarchy (CBH), which we developed to solve a long-standing problem in theoretical thermochemistry, serves as the linchpin in this merger. The accuracy of our method is based on two strong foundations: (a) the apt utilization of systematic and sophisticated error-canceling schemes via CBH that result in an optimal cutting scheme at any given level of fragmentation and (b) the use of a less expensive second

  1. Proton chemical shift tensors determined by 3D ultrafast MAS double-quantum NMR spectroscopy

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Zhang, Rongchun; Mroue, Kamal H.; Ramamoorthy, Ayyalusamy, E-mail: ramamoor@umich.edu

    2015-10-14

    Proton NMR spectroscopy in the solid state has recently attracted much attention owing to the significant enhancement in spectral resolution afforded by the remarkable advances in ultrafast magic angle spinning (MAS) capabilities. In particular, proton chemical shift anisotropy (CSA) has become an important tool for obtaining specific insights into inter/intra-molecular hydrogen bonding. However, even at the highest currently feasible spinning frequencies (110–120 kHz), {sup 1}H MAS NMR spectra of rigid solids still suffer from poor resolution and severe peak overlap caused by the strong {sup 1}H–{sup 1}H homonuclear dipolar couplings and narrow {sup 1}H chemical shift (CS) ranges, which rendermore » it difficult to determine the CSA of specific proton sites in the standard CSA/single-quantum (SQ) chemical shift correlation experiment. Herein, we propose a three-dimensional (3D) {sup 1}H double-quantum (DQ) chemical shift/CSA/SQ chemical shift correlation experiment to extract the CS tensors of proton sites whose signals are not well resolved along the single-quantum chemical shift dimension. As extracted from the 3D spectrum, the F1/F3 (DQ/SQ) projection provides valuable information about {sup 1}H–{sup 1}H proximities, which might also reveal the hydrogen-bonding connectivities. In addition, the F2/F3 (CSA/SQ) correlation spectrum, which is similar to the regular 2D CSA/SQ correlation experiment, yields chemical shift anisotropic line shapes at different isotropic chemical shifts. More importantly, since the F2/F1 (CSA/DQ) spectrum correlates the CSA with the DQ signal induced by two neighboring proton sites, the CSA spectrum sliced at a specific DQ chemical shift position contains the CSA information of two neighboring spins indicated by the DQ chemical shift. If these two spins have different CS tensors, both tensors can be extracted by numerical fitting. We believe that this robust and elegant single-channel proton-based 3D experiment provides useful

  2. Facile synthetic method for pristine graphene quantum dots and graphene oxide quantum dots: origin of blue and green luminescence.

    PubMed

    Liu, Fei; Jang, Min-Ho; Ha, Hyun Dong; Kim, Je-Hyung; Cho, Yong-Hoon; Seo, Tae Seok

    2013-07-19

    Pristine graphene quantum dots and graphene oxide quantum dots are synthesized by chemical exfoliation from the graphite nanoparticles with high uniformity in terms of shape (circle), size (less than 4 nm), and thickness (monolayer). The origin of the blue and green photoluminescence of GQDs and GOQDs is attributed to intrinsic and extrinsic energy states, respectively. Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  3. Ferritin-Templated Quantum-Dots for Quantum Logic Gates

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Choi, Sang H.; Kim, Jae-Woo; Chu, Sang-Hyon; Park, Yeonjoon; King, Glen C.; Lillehei, Peter T.; Kim, Seon-Jeong; Elliott, James R.

    2005-01-01

    Quantum logic gates (QLGs) or other logic systems are based on quantum-dots (QD) with a stringent requirement of size uniformity. The QD are widely known building units for QLGs. The size control of QD is a critical issue in quantum-dot fabrication. The work presented here offers a new method to develop quantum-dots using a bio-template, called ferritin, that ensures QD production in uniform size of nano-scale proportion. The bio-template for uniform yield of QD is based on a ferritin protein that allows reconstitution of core material through the reduction and chelation processes. One of the biggest challenges for developing QLG is the requirement of ordered and uniform size of QD for arrays on a substrate with nanometer precision. The QD development by bio-template includes the electrochemical/chemical reconsitution of ferritins with different core materials, such as iron, cobalt, manganese, platinum, and nickel. The other bio-template method used in our laboratory is dendrimers, precisely defined chemical structures. With ferritin-templated QD, we fabricated the heptagonshaped patterned array via direct nano manipulation of the ferritin molecules with a tip of atomic force microscope (AFM). We also designed various nanofabrication methods of QD arrays using a wide range manipulation techniques. The precise control of the ferritin-templated QD for a patterned arrangement are offered by various methods, such as a site-specific immobilization of thiolated ferritins through local oxidation using the AFM tip, ferritin arrays induced by gold nanoparticle manipulation, thiolated ferritin positioning by shaving method, etc. In the signal measurements, the current-voltage curve is obtained by measuring the current through the ferritin, between the tip and the substrate for potential sweeping or at constant potential. The measured resistance near zero bias was 1.8 teraohm for single holoferritin and 5.7 teraohm for single apoferritin, respectively.

  4. Isolation, characterization, spectroscopic properties and quantum chemical computations of an important phytoalexin resveratrol as antioxidant component from Vitis labrusca L. and their chemical compositions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Güder, Aytaç; Korkmaz, Halil; Gökce, Halil; Alpaslan, Yelda Bingöl; Alpaslan, Gökhan

    2014-12-01

    In this study, isolation and characterization of trans-resveratrol (RES) as an antioxidant compound were carried out from VLE, VLG and VLS. Furthermore, antioxidant activities were evaluated by using six different methods. Finally, total phenolic, flavonoid, ascorbic acid, anthocyanin, lycopene, β-carotene and vitamin E contents were carried out. In addition, the FT-IR, 13C and 1H NMR chemical shifts and UV-vis. spectra of trans-resveratrol were experimentally recorded. Quantum chemical computations such as the molecular geometry, vibrational frequencies, UV-vis. spectroscopic parameters, HOMOs-LUMOs energies, molecular electrostatic potential (MEP), natural bond orbitals (NBO) and nonlinear optics (NLO) properties of title molecule have been calculated by using DFT/B3PW91 method with 6-311++G(d,p) basis set in ground state for the first time. The obtained results show that the calculated spectroscopic data are in a good agreement with experimental data.

  5. The Radical Pair Mechanism and the Avian Chemical Compass: Quantum Coherence and Entanglement

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Zhang, Yiteng; Kais, Sabre; Berman, Gennady Petrovich

    2015-02-02

    We review the spin radical pair mechanism which is a promising explanation of avian navigation. This mechanism is based on the dependence of product yields on 1) the hyperfine interaction involving electron spins and neighboring nuclear spins and 2) the intensity and orientation of the geomagnetic field. One surprising result is that even at ambient conditions quantum entanglement of electron spins can play an important role in avian magnetoreception. This review describes the general scheme of chemical reactions involving radical pairs generated from singlet and triplet precursors; the spin dynamics of the radical pairs; and the magnetic field dependence ofmore » product yields caused by the radical pair mechanism. The main part of the review includes a description of the chemical compass in birds. We review: the general properties of the avian compass; the basic scheme of the radical pair mechanism; the reaction kinetics in cryptochrome; quantum coherence and entanglement in the avian compass; and the effects of noise. We believe that the quantum avian compass can play an important role in avian navigation and can also provide the foundation for a new generation of sensitive and selective magnetic-sensing nano-devices.« less

  6. Synthesis, vibrational and quantum chemical investigations of hydrogen bonded complex betaine dihydrogen selenite

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Arjunan, V.; Marchewka, Mariusz K.; Kalaivani, M.

    2012-10-01

    The molecular complex of betaine with selenious acid namely, betaine dihydrogen selenite (C5H13NO5Se, BDHSe) was synthesised by the reaction of betaine and SeO2 in a 1:1:1 solution of isopropanol, methanol and water. Crystals were grown from this solution by cooling to 253 K for few days. The complex was formed without accompanying proton transfer from selenious acid molecule to betaine. The complete vibrational assignments and analysis of BDHSe have been performed by FTIR, FT-Raman and far-infrared spectral studies. More support on the experimental findings was added from the quantum chemical studies performed with DFT (B3LYP) method using 6-311++G∗∗, 6-31G∗∗, cc-pVDZ and 3-21G basis sets. The structural parameters, energies, thermodynamic parameters and the NBO charges of BDHSe were determined by the DFT method. The 1H and 13C isotropic chemical shifts (δ ppm) of BDHSe with respect to TMS were also calculated using the gauge independent atomic orbital (GIAO) method and compared with the experimental data. SHG experiment was carried out using Kurtz-Perry powder technique. The efficiency of second harmonic generation for BDHSe was estimated relatively to KDP: deff = 0.97 deff (KDP).

  7. Small Atomic Orbital Basis Set First‐Principles Quantum Chemical Methods for Large Molecular and Periodic Systems: A Critical Analysis of Error Sources

    PubMed Central

    Sure, Rebecca; Brandenburg, Jan Gerit

    2015-01-01

    Abstract In quantum chemical computations the combination of Hartree–Fock or a density functional theory (DFT) approximation with relatively small atomic orbital basis sets of double‐zeta quality is still widely used, for example, in the popular B3LYP/6‐31G* approach. In this Review, we critically analyze the two main sources of error in such computations, that is, the basis set superposition error on the one hand and the missing London dispersion interactions on the other. We review various strategies to correct those errors and present exemplary calculations on mainly noncovalently bound systems of widely varying size. Energies and geometries of small dimers, large supramolecular complexes, and molecular crystals are covered. We conclude that it is not justified to rely on fortunate error compensation, as the main inconsistencies can be cured by modern correction schemes which clearly outperform the plain mean‐field methods. PMID:27308221

  8. Reliable but Timesaving: In Search of an Efficient Quantum-chemical Method for the Description of Functional Fullerenes.

    PubMed

    Reis, H; Rasulev, B; Papadopoulos, M G; Leszczynski, J

    2015-01-01

    Fullerene and its derivatives are currently one of the most intensively investigated species in the area of nanomedicine and nanochemistry. Various unique properties of fullerenes are responsible for their wide range applications in industry, biology and medicine. A large pool of functionalized C60 and C70 fullerenes is investigated theoretically at different levels of quantum-mechanical theory. The semiempirial PM6 method, density functional theory with the B3LYP functional, and correlated ab initio MP2 method are employed to compute the optimized structures, and an array of properties for the considered species. In addition to the calculations for isolated molecules, the results of solution calculations are also reported at the DFT level, using the polarizable continuum model (PCM). Ionization potentials (IPs) and electron affinities (EAs) are computed by means of Koopmans' theorem as well as with the more accurate but computationally expensive ΔSCF method. Both procedures yield comparable values, while comparison of IPs and EAs computed with different quantum-mechanical methods shows surprisingly large differences. Harmonic vibrational frequencies are computed at the PM6 and B3LYP levels of theory and compared with each other. A possible application of the frequencies as 3D descriptors in the EVA (EigenVAlues) method is shown. All the computed data are made available, and may be used to replace experimental data in routine applications where large amounts of data are required, e.g. in structure-activity relationship studies of the toxicity of fullerene derivatives.

  9. [Application of quantum-chemical methods to prediction of the carcinogenicity of chemical substances].

    PubMed

    Zholdikova, Z I; Kharchevnikova, N V

    2006-01-01

    A version of logical-combinatorial JSM type intelligent system was used to predict the presence and the degree of a carcinogenic effect. This version was based on combined description of chemical substances including both structural and numeric parameters. The new version allows for the fact that the toxicity and danger caused by chemical substances often depend on their biological activation in the organism. The authors substantiate classifying chemicals according to their carcinogenic activity, and illustrate the use of the system to predict the carcinogenicity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons using a model of bioactivation via the formation of diolepoxides, and the carcinogenicity of halogenated alkanes using a model of bioactivation via oxidative dehalogenation. The paper defined the boundary level of an energetic parameter, the exceeding of which correlated with the inhibition of halogenated alkanes's metabolism and the absence of carcinogenic activity.

  10. Spectroscopic studies and quantum chemical investigations of (3,4-dimethoxybenzylidene) propanedinitrile.

    PubMed

    Gupta, Ujval; Kumar, Vinay; Singh, Vivek K; Kant, Rajni; Khajuria, Yugal

    2015-04-05

    The Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), Ultra-Violet Visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy and Thermogravimetric (TG) analysis of (3,4-dimethoxybenzylidene) propanedinitrile have been carried out and investigated using quantum chemical calculations. The molecular geometry, harmonic vibrational frequencies, Mulliken charges, natural atomic charges and thermodynamic properties in the ground state have been investigated by using Hartree Fock Theory (HF) and Density Functional Theory (DFT) using B3LYP functional with 6-311G(d,p) basis set. Both HF and DFT methods yield good agreement with the experimental data. Vibrational modes are assigned with the help of Vibrational Energy Distribution Analysis (VEDA) program. UV-Visible spectrum was recorded in the spectral range of 190-800nm and the results are compared with the calculated values using TD-DFT approach. Stability of the molecule arising from hyperconjugative interactions, charge delocalization have been analyzed using natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis. The results obtained from the studies of Highest Occupied Molecular Orbital (HOMO) and Lowest Unoccupied Molecular Orbital (LUMO) are used to calculate molecular parameters like ionization potential, electron affinity, global hardness, electron chemical potential and global electrophilicity. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. On the bathochromic shift of the absorption by astaxanthin in crustacyanin: a quantum chemical study

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Durbeej, Bo; Eriksson, Leif A.

    2003-06-01

    The structural origin of the bathochromic shift assumed by the electronic absorption spectrum of protein-bound astaxanthin, the carotenoid that upon binding to crustacyanin is responsible for the blue colouration of lobster shell, is investigated by means of quantum chemical methods. The calculations suggest that the bathochromic shift is largely due to one of the astaxanthin C4 keto groups being hydrogen-bonded to a histidine residue of the surrounding protein, and that the effect of this histidine is directly dependent on its protonation state. Out of the different methodologies (CIS, TD-DFT, and ZINDO/S) employed to calculate wavelengths of maximum absorption, the best agreement with experimental data is obtained using the semiempirical ZINDO/S method.

  12. Quantum chemistry in environmental pesticide risk assessment.

    PubMed

    Villaverde, Juan J; López-Goti, Carmen; Alcamí, Manuel; Lamsabhi, Al Mokhtar; Alonso-Prados, José L; Sandín-España, Pilar

    2017-11-01

    The scientific community and regulatory bodies worldwide, currently promote the development of non-experimental tests that produce reliable data for pesticide risk assessment. The use of standard quantum chemistry methods could allow the development of tools to perform a first screening of compounds to be considered for the experimental studies, improving the risk assessment. This fact results in a better distribution of resources and in better planning, allowing a more exhaustive study of the pesticides and their metabolic products. The current paper explores the potential of quantum chemistry in modelling toxicity and environmental behaviour of pesticides and their by-products by using electronic descriptors obtained computationally. Quantum chemistry has potential to estimate the physico-chemical properties of pesticides, including certain chemical reaction mechanisms and their degradation pathways, allowing modelling of the environmental behaviour of both pesticides and their by-products. In this sense, theoretical methods can contribute to performing a more focused risk assessment of pesticides used in the market, and may lead to higher quality and safer agricultural products. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

  13. The quantum dynamics of electronically nonadiabatic chemical reactions

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Truhlar, Donald G.

    1993-01-01

    Considerable progress was achieved on the quantum mechanical treatment of electronically nonadiabatic collisions involving energy transfer and chemical reaction in the collision of an electronically excited atom with a molecule. In the first step, a new diabatic representation for the coupled potential energy surfaces was created. A two-state diabatic representation was developed which was designed to realistically reproduce the two lowest adiabatic states of the valence bond model and also to have the following three desirable features: (1) it is more economical to evaluate; (2) it is more portable; and (3) all spline fits are replaced by analytic functions. The new representation consists of a set of two coupled diabatic potential energy surfaces plus a coupling surface. It is suitable for dynamics calculations on both the electronic quenching and reaction processes in collisions of Na(3p2p) with H2. The new two-state representation was obtained by a three-step process from a modified eight-state diatomics-in-molecules (DIM) representation of Blais. The second step required the development of new dynamical methods. A formalism was developed for treating reactions with very general basis functions including electronically excited states. Our formalism is based on the generalized Newton, scattered wave, and outgoing wave variational principles that were used previously for reactive collisions on a single potential energy surface, and it incorporates three new features: (1) the basis functions include electronic degrees of freedom, as required to treat reactions involving electronic excitation and two or more coupled potential energy surfaces; (2) the primitive electronic basis is assumed to be diabatic, and it is not assumed that it diagonalizes the electronic Hamiltonian even asymptotically; and (3) contracted basis functions for vibrational-rotational-orbital degrees of freedom are included in a very general way, similar to previous prescriptions for locally

  14. Prediction of Radical Scavenging Activities of Anthocyanins Applying Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) with Quantum Chemical Descriptors

    PubMed Central

    Jhin, Changho; Hwang, Keum Taek

    2014-01-01

    Radical scavenging activity of anthocyanins is well known, but only a few studies have been conducted by quantum chemical approach. The adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) is an effective technique for solving problems with uncertainty. The purpose of this study was to construct and evaluate quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) models for predicting radical scavenging activities of anthocyanins with good prediction efficiency. ANFIS-applied QSAR models were developed by using quantum chemical descriptors of anthocyanins calculated by semi-empirical PM6 and PM7 methods. Electron affinity (A) and electronegativity (χ) of flavylium cation, and ionization potential (I) of quinoidal base were significantly correlated with radical scavenging activities of anthocyanins. These descriptors were used as independent variables for QSAR models. ANFIS models with two triangular-shaped input fuzzy functions for each independent variable were constructed and optimized by 100 learning epochs. The constructed models using descriptors calculated by both PM6 and PM7 had good prediction efficiency with Q-square of 0.82 and 0.86, respectively. PMID:25153627

  15. Free Energies of Quantum Particles: The Coupled-Perturbed Quantum Umbrella Sampling Method.

    PubMed

    Glover, William J; Casey, Jennifer R; Schwartz, Benjamin J

    2014-10-14

    We introduce a new simulation method called Coupled-Perturbed Quantum Umbrella Sampling that extends the classical umbrella sampling approach to reaction coordinates involving quantum mechanical degrees of freedom. The central idea in our method is to solve coupled-perturbed equations to find the response of the quantum system's wave function along a reaction coordinate of interest. This allows for propagation of the system's dynamics under the influence of a quantum biasing umbrella potential and provides a method to rigorously undo the effects of the bias to compute equilibrium ensemble averages. In this way, one can drag electrons into regions of high free energy where they would otherwise not go, thus enabling chemistry by fiat. We demonstrate the applicability of our method for two condensed-phase systems of interest. First, we consider the interaction of a hydrated electron with an aqueous sodium cation, and we calculate a potential of mean force that shows that an e(-):Na(+) contact pair is the thermodynamically favored product starting from either a neutral sodium atom or the separate cation and electron species. Second, we present the first determination of a hydrated electron's free-energy profile relative to an air/water interface. For the particular model parameters used, we find that the hydrated electron is more thermodynamically stable in the bulk rather than at the interface. Our analysis suggests that the primary driving force keeping the electron away from the interface is the long-range electron-solvent polarization interaction rather than the short-range details of the chosen pseudopotential.

  16. Ab initio quantum chemical calculation of electron transfer matrix elements for large molecules

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Linda Yu; Friesner, Richard A.; Murphy, Robert B.

    1997-07-01

    Using a diabatic state formalism and pseudospectral numerical methods, we have developed an efficient ab initio quantum chemical approach to the calculation of electron transfer matrix elements for large molecules. The theory is developed at the Hartree-Fock level and validated by comparison with results in the literature for small systems. As an example of the power of the method, we calculate the electronic coupling between two bacteriochlorophyll molecules in various intermolecular geometries. Only a single self-consistent field (SCF) calculation on each of the monomers is needed to generate coupling matrix elements for all of the molecular pairs. The largest calculations performed, utilizing 1778 basis functions, required ˜14 h on an IBM 390 workstation. This is considerably less cpu time than would be necessitated with a supermolecule adiabatic state calculation and a conventional electronic structure code.

  17. Isolation, characterization, spectroscopic properties and quantum chemical computations of an important phytoalexin resveratrol as antioxidant component from Vitis labrusca L. and their chemical compositions.

    PubMed

    Güder, Aytaç; Korkmaz, Halil; Gökce, Halil; Alpaslan, Yelda Bingöl; Alpaslan, Gökhan

    2014-12-10

    In this study, isolation and characterization of trans-resveratrol (RES) as an antioxidant compound were carried out from VLE, VLG and VLS. Furthermore, antioxidant activities were evaluated by using six different methods. Finally, total phenolic, flavonoid, ascorbic acid, anthocyanin, lycopene, β-carotene and vitamin E contents were carried out. In addition, the FT-IR, (13)C and (1)H NMR chemical shifts and UV-vis. spectra of trans-resveratrol were experimentally recorded. Quantum chemical computations such as the molecular geometry, vibrational frequencies, UV-vis. spectroscopic parameters, HOMOs-LUMOs energies, molecular electrostatic potential (MEP), natural bond orbitals (NBO) and nonlinear optics (NLO) properties of title molecule have been calculated by using DFT/B3PW91 method with 6-311++G(d,p) basis set in ground state for the first time. The obtained results show that the calculated spectroscopic data are in a good agreement with experimental data. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. Quantum probability ranking principle for ligand-based virtual screening.

    PubMed

    Al-Dabbagh, Mohammed Mumtaz; Salim, Naomie; Himmat, Mubarak; Ahmed, Ali; Saeed, Faisal

    2017-04-01

    Chemical libraries contain thousands of compounds that need screening, which increases the need for computational methods that can rank or prioritize compounds. The tools of virtual screening are widely exploited to enhance the cost effectiveness of lead drug discovery programs by ranking chemical compounds databases in decreasing probability of biological activity based upon probability ranking principle (PRP). In this paper, we developed a novel ranking approach for molecular compounds inspired by quantum mechanics, called quantum probability ranking principle (QPRP). The QPRP ranking criteria would make an attempt to draw an analogy between the physical experiment and molecular structure ranking process for 2D fingerprints in ligand based virtual screening (LBVS). The development of QPRP criteria in LBVS has employed the concepts of quantum at three different levels, firstly at representation level, this model makes an effort to develop a new framework of molecular representation by connecting the molecular compounds with mathematical quantum space. Secondly, estimate the similarity between chemical libraries and references based on quantum-based similarity searching method. Finally, rank the molecules using QPRP approach. Simulated virtual screening experiments with MDL drug data report (MDDR) data sets showed that QPRP outperformed the classical ranking principle (PRP) for molecular chemical compounds.

  19. Quantum probability ranking principle for ligand-based virtual screening

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Al-Dabbagh, Mohammed Mumtaz; Salim, Naomie; Himmat, Mubarak; Ahmed, Ali; Saeed, Faisal

    2017-04-01

    Chemical libraries contain thousands of compounds that need screening, which increases the need for computational methods that can rank or prioritize compounds. The tools of virtual screening are widely exploited to enhance the cost effectiveness of lead drug discovery programs by ranking chemical compounds databases in decreasing probability of biological activity based upon probability ranking principle (PRP). In this paper, we developed a novel ranking approach for molecular compounds inspired by quantum mechanics, called quantum probability ranking principle (QPRP). The QPRP ranking criteria would make an attempt to draw an analogy between the physical experiment and molecular structure ranking process for 2D fingerprints in ligand based virtual screening (LBVS). The development of QPRP criteria in LBVS has employed the concepts of quantum at three different levels, firstly at representation level, this model makes an effort to develop a new framework of molecular representation by connecting the molecular compounds with mathematical quantum space. Secondly, estimate the similarity between chemical libraries and references based on quantum-based similarity searching method. Finally, rank the molecules using QPRP approach. Simulated virtual screening experiments with MDL drug data report (MDDR) data sets showed that QPRP outperformed the classical ranking principle (PRP) for molecular chemical compounds.

  20. Chemical reaction CO+OH • → CO 2+H • autocatalyzed by carbon dioxide: Quantum chemical study of the potential energy surfaces

    DOE PAGES

    Masunov, Artem E.; Wait, Elizabeth; Vasu, Subith S.

    2016-06-28

    The supercritical carbon dioxide medium, used to increase efficiency in oxy combustion fossil energy technology, may drastically alter both rates and mechanisms of chemical reactions. Here we investigate potential energy surface of the second most important combustion reaction with quantum chemistry methods. Two types of effects are reported: formation of the covalent intermediates and formation of van der Waals complexes by spectator CO 2 molecule. While spectator molecule alter the activation barrier only slightly, the covalent bonding opens a new reaction pathway. The mechanism includes sequential covalent binding of CO 2 to OH radical and CO molecule, hydrogen transfer frommore » oxygen to carbon atoms, and CH bond dissociation. This reduces the activation barrier by 11 kcal/mol at the rate-determining step and is expected to accelerate the reaction rate. The finding of predicted catalytic effect is expected to play an important role not only in combustion but also in a broad array of chemical processes taking place in supercritical CO 2 medium. Furthermore, tt may open a new venue for controlling reaction rates for chemical manufacturing.« less

  1. Quantum chemical study of a derivative of 3-substituted dithiocarbamic flavanone

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gosav, Steluta; Paduraru, Nicoleta; Maftei, Dan; Birsa, Mihail Lucian; Praisler, Mirela

    2017-02-01

    The aim of this work is to characterize a quite novel 3-dithiocarbamic flavonoid by vibrational spectroscopy in conjunction with Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations. Quantum mechanics calculations of energies, geometries and vibrational wavenumbers in the ground state were carried out by using hybrid functional B3LYP with 6-311G(d,p) as basis set. The results indicate a remarkable agreement between the calculated molecular geometries, as well as vibrational frequencies, and the corresponding experimental data. In addition, a complete assignment of all the absorption bands present in the vibrational spectrum has been performed. In order to assess its chemical potential, quantum molecular descriptors characterizing the interactions between the 3-dithiocarbamic flavonoid and its biological receptors have been computed. The frontier molecular orbitals and the HOMO-LUMO energy gap have been used in order to explain the way in which the new molecule can interact with other species and to characterize its molecular chemical stability/reactivity. The molecular electrostatic potential (MEP) map, computed in order to identify the sites of the studied flavonoid that are most likely to interact with electrophilic and nucleophilic species, is discussed.

  2. Driven-dissipative quantum Monte Carlo method for open quantum systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nagy, Alexandra; Savona, Vincenzo

    2018-05-01

    We develop a real-time full configuration-interaction quantum Monte Carlo approach to model driven-dissipative open quantum systems with Markovian system-bath coupling. The method enables stochastic sampling of the Liouville-von Neumann time evolution of the density matrix thanks to a massively parallel algorithm, thus providing estimates of observables on the nonequilibrium steady state. We present the underlying theory and introduce an initiator technique and importance sampling to reduce the statistical error. Finally, we demonstrate the efficiency of our approach by applying it to the driven-dissipative two-dimensional X Y Z spin-1/2 model on a lattice.

  3. Algorithms Bridging Quantum Computation and Chemistry

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McClean, Jarrod Ryan

    The design of new materials and chemicals derived entirely from computation has long been a goal of computational chemistry, and the governing equation whose solution would permit this dream is known. Unfortunately, the exact solution to this equation has been far too expensive and clever approximations fail in critical situations. Quantum computers offer a novel solution to this problem. In this work, we develop not only new algorithms to use quantum computers to study hard problems in chemistry, but also explore how such algorithms can help us to better understand and improve our traditional approaches. In particular, we first introduce a new method, the variational quantum eigensolver, which is designed to maximally utilize the quantum resources available in a device to solve chemical problems. We apply this method in a real quantum photonic device in the lab to study the dissociation of the helium hydride (HeH+) molecule. We also enhance this methodology with architecture specific optimizations on ion trap computers and show how linear-scaling techniques from traditional quantum chemistry can be used to improve the outlook of similar algorithms on quantum computers. We then show how studying quantum algorithms such as these can be used to understand and enhance the development of classical algorithms. In particular we use a tool from adiabatic quantum computation, Feynman's Clock, to develop a new discrete time variational principle and further establish a connection between real-time quantum dynamics and ground state eigenvalue problems. We use these tools to develop two novel parallel-in-time quantum algorithms that outperform competitive algorithms as well as offer new insights into the connection between the fermion sign problem of ground states and the dynamical sign problem of quantum dynamics. Finally we use insights gained in the study of quantum circuits to explore a general notion of sparsity in many-body quantum systems. In particular we use

  4. Research on Palmprint Identification Method Based on Quantum Algorithms

    PubMed Central

    Zhang, Zhanzhan

    2014-01-01

    Quantum image recognition is a technology by using quantum algorithm to process the image information. It can obtain better effect than classical algorithm. In this paper, four different quantum algorithms are used in the three stages of palmprint recognition. First, quantum adaptive median filtering algorithm is presented in palmprint filtering processing. Quantum filtering algorithm can get a better filtering result than classical algorithm through the comparison. Next, quantum Fourier transform (QFT) is used to extract pattern features by only one operation due to quantum parallelism. The proposed algorithm exhibits an exponential speed-up compared with discrete Fourier transform in the feature extraction. Finally, quantum set operations and Grover algorithm are used in palmprint matching. According to the experimental results, quantum algorithm only needs to apply square of N operations to find out the target palmprint, but the traditional method needs N times of calculation. At the same time, the matching accuracy of quantum algorithm is almost 100%. PMID:25105165

  5. Quantum Hall resistance standards from graphene grown by chemical vapour deposition on silicon carbide

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lafont, F.; Ribeiro-Palau, R.; Kazazis, D.; Michon, A.; Couturaud, O.; Consejo, C.; Chassagne, T.; Zielinski, M.; Portail, M.; Jouault, B.; Schopfer, F.; Poirier, W.

    2015-04-01

    Replacing GaAs by graphene to realize more practical quantum Hall resistance standards (QHRS), accurate to within 10-9 in relative value, but operating at lower magnetic fields than 10 T, is an ongoing goal in metrology. To date, the required accuracy has been reported, only few times, in graphene grown on SiC by Si sublimation, under higher magnetic fields. Here, we report on a graphene device grown by chemical vapour deposition on SiC, which demonstrates such accuracies of the Hall resistance from 10 T up to 19 T at 1.4 K. This is explained by a quantum Hall effect with low dissipation, resulting from strongly localized bulk states at the magnetic length scale, over a wide magnetic field range. Our results show that graphene-based QHRS can replace their GaAs counterparts by operating in as-convenient cryomagnetic conditions, but over an extended magnetic field range. They rely on a promising hybrid and scalable growth method and a fabrication process achieving low-electron-density devices.

  6. Quantum Hall resistance standards from graphene grown by chemical vapour deposition on silicon carbide

    PubMed Central

    Lafont, F.; Ribeiro-Palau, R.; Kazazis, D.; Michon, A.; Couturaud, O.; Consejo, C.; Chassagne, T.; Zielinski, M.; Portail, M.; Jouault, B.; Schopfer, F.; Poirier, W.

    2015-01-01

    Replacing GaAs by graphene to realize more practical quantum Hall resistance standards (QHRS), accurate to within 10−9 in relative value, but operating at lower magnetic fields than 10 T, is an ongoing goal in metrology. To date, the required accuracy has been reported, only few times, in graphene grown on SiC by Si sublimation, under higher magnetic fields. Here, we report on a graphene device grown by chemical vapour deposition on SiC, which demonstrates such accuracies of the Hall resistance from 10 T up to 19 T at 1.4 K. This is explained by a quantum Hall effect with low dissipation, resulting from strongly localized bulk states at the magnetic length scale, over a wide magnetic field range. Our results show that graphene-based QHRS can replace their GaAs counterparts by operating in as-convenient cryomagnetic conditions, but over an extended magnetic field range. They rely on a promising hybrid and scalable growth method and a fabrication process achieving low-electron-density devices. PMID:25891533

  7. Conformational analysis, spectroscopic, structure-activity relations and quantum chemical simulation studies of 4-(trifluoromethyl)benzylamine

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Arjunan, V.; Devi, L.; Mohan, S.

    2018-05-01

    The FT-IR and FT-Raman spectra of 4-trifluoromethylbenzylamine (TFMBA) have been recorded in the range 4000-450 and 4000-100 cm-1 respectively. The conformational analysis of the compound has been carried out to attain stable geometry of the compound. The complete vibrational assignment and analysis of the fundamental modes of the compound are carried out using the experimental FTIR and FT-Raman data and quantum chemical studies. The experimental vibrational frequencies are compared with the wavenumbers obtained theoretically from the B3LYP gradient calculations employing the standard high level 6-311++G** and cc-pVTZ basis sets for the optimised geometry of the compound. The structural parameters, thermodynamic properties and vibrational frequencies of the normal modes obtained from the B3LYP methods are in good agreement with the experimental data. The 1H (400 MHz; CDCl3) and 13C (100 MHz; CDCl3) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra were also recorded. The electronic properties, highest occupied molecular orbital and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energies are measured by DFT approach. The charges of the atoms by natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis are determined by B3LYP/cc-pVTZ method. The structure-chemical reactivity relations of the compound are determined through chemical potential, global hardness, global softness, electronegativity, electrophilicity and local reactivity descriptors by conceptual DFT methods.

  8. POSSIBLE NATURE OF THE RADIATION-INDUCED SIGNAL IN NAILS: HIGH-FIELD EPR, CONFIRMING CHEMICAL SYNTHESIS, AND QUANTUM CHEMICAL CALCULATIONS

    PubMed Central

    Tipikin, Dmitriy S.; Swarts, Steven G.; Sidabras, Jason W.; Trompier, François; Swartz, Harold M.

    2016-01-01

    Exposure of finger- and toe-nails to ionizing radiation generates an Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) signal whose intensity is dose dependent and stable at room temperature for several days. The dependency of the radiation-induced signal (RIS) on the received dose may be used as the basis for retrospective dosimetry of an individual's fortuitous exposure to ionizing radiation. Two radiation-induced signals, a quasi-stable (RIS2) and stable signal (RIS5), have been identified in nails irradiated up to a dose of 50 Gy. Using X-band EPR, both RIS signals exhibit a singlet line shape with a line width around 1.0 mT and an apparent g-value of 2.0044. In this work, we seek information on the exact chemical nature of the radiation-induced free radicals underlying the signal. This knowledge may provide insights into the reason for the discrepancy in the stabilities of the two RIS signals and help develop strategies for stabilizing the radicals in nails or devising methods for restoring the radicals after decay. In this work an analysis of high field (94 GHz and 240 GHz) EPR spectra of the RIS using quantum chemical calculations, the oxidation–reduction properties and the pH dependence of the signal intensities are used to show that spectroscopic and chemical properties of the RIS are consistent with a semiquinone-type radical underlying the RIS. It has been suggested that semiquinone radicals formed on trace amounts of melanin in nails are the basis for the RIS signals. However, based on the quantum chemical calculations and chemical properties of the RIS, it is likely that the radicals underlying this signal are generated from the radiolysis of L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA) amino acids in the keratin proteins. These DOPA amino acids are likely formed from the exogenous oxidation of tyrosine in keratin by the oxygen from the air prior to irradiation. We show that these DOPA amino acids can work as radical traps, capturing the highly reactive and unstable

  9. Chemically functionalized ZnS quantum dots as new optical nanosensor of herbicides

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Masteri-Farahani, M.; Mahdavi, S.; Khanmohammadi, H.

    2018-03-01

    Surface chemical functionalization of ZnS quantum dots (ZnS-QDs) with cysteamine hydrochloride resulted in the preparation of an optical nanosensor for detection of herbicides. Characterization of the functionalized ZnS-QDs was performed with physicochemical methods such as x-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, energy dispersive x-ray (EDX) analysis, ultraviolet-visible (UV–vis) and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopies. The optical band gap of the functionalized ZnS-QDs was determined by using Tauc plot as 4.1 eV. Addition of various herbicides resulted in the linearly fluorescence quenching of the functionalized ZnS-QDs according to the Stern-Volmer equation. The functionalized ZnS-QDs can be used as simple, rapid, and inexpensive nanosensor for practical detection and measurement of various herbicides.

  10. Recommender engine for continuous-time quantum Monte Carlo methods

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Huang, Li; Yang, Yi-feng; Wang, Lei

    2017-03-01

    Recommender systems play an essential role in the modern business world. They recommend favorable items such as books, movies, and search queries to users based on their past preferences. Applying similar ideas and techniques to Monte Carlo simulations of physical systems boosts their efficiency without sacrificing accuracy. Exploiting the quantum to classical mapping inherent in the continuous-time quantum Monte Carlo methods, we construct a classical molecular gas model to reproduce the quantum distributions. We then utilize powerful molecular simulation techniques to propose efficient quantum Monte Carlo updates. The recommender engine approach provides a general way to speed up the quantum impurity solvers.

  11. QSTR of the toxicity of some organophosphorus compounds by using the quantum chemical and topological descriptors.

    PubMed

    Senior, Samir A; Madbouly, Magdy D; El massry, Abdel-Moneim

    2011-09-01

    Quantum chemical and topological descriptors of some organophosphorus compounds (OP) were correlated with their toxicity LD(50) as a dermal. The quantum chemical parameters were obtained using B3LYP/LANL2DZdp-ECP optimization. Using linear regression analysis, equations were derived to calculate the theoretical LD(50) of the studied compounds. The inclusion of quantum parameters, having both charge indices and topological indices, affects the toxicity of the studied compounds resulting in high correlation coefficient factors for the obtained equations. Two of the new four firstly supposed descriptors give higher correlation coefficients namely the Heteroatom Corrected Extended Connectivity Randic index ((1)X(HCEC)) and the Density Randic index ((1)X(Den)). The obtained linear equations were applied to predict the toxicity of some related structures. It was found that the sulfur atoms in these compounds must be replaced by oxygen atoms to achieve improved toxicity. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Toward prethreshold gate-based quantum simulation of chemical dynamics: using potential energy surfaces to simulate few-channel molecular collisions

    DOE PAGES

    Sornborger, Andrew Tyler; Stancil, Phillip; Geller, Michael R.

    2018-03-22

    Here, one of the most promising applications of an error-corrected universal quantum computer is the efficient simulation of complex quantum systems such as large molecular systems. In this application, one is interested in both the electronic structure such as the ground state energy and dynamical properties such as the scattering cross section and chemical reaction rates. However, most theoretical work and experimental demonstrations have focused on the quantum computation of energies and energy surfaces. In this work, we attempt to make the prethreshold (not error-corrected) quantum simulation of dynamical properties practical as well. We show that the use of precomputedmore » potential energy surfaces and couplings enables the gate-based simulation of few-channel but otherwise realistic molecular collisions. Our approach is based on the widely used Born–Oppenheimer approximation for the structure problem coupled with a semiclassical method for the dynamics. In the latter the electrons are treated quantum mechanically but the nuclei are classical, which restricts the collisions to high energy or temperature (typically above ≈10 eV). By using operator splitting techniques optimized for the resulting time-dependent Hamiltonian simulation problem, we give several physically realistic collision examples, with 3–8 channels and circuit depths < 1000.« less

  13. Toward prethreshold gate-based quantum simulation of chemical dynamics: using potential energy surfaces to simulate few-channel molecular collisions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sornborger, Andrew T.; Stancil, Phillip; Geller, Michael R.

    2018-05-01

    One of the most promising applications of an error-corrected universal quantum computer is the efficient simulation of complex quantum systems such as large molecular systems. In this application, one is interested in both the electronic structure such as the ground state energy and dynamical properties such as the scattering cross section and chemical reaction rates. However, most theoretical work and experimental demonstrations have focused on the quantum computation of energies and energy surfaces. In this work, we attempt to make the prethreshold (not error-corrected) quantum simulation of dynamical properties practical as well. We show that the use of precomputed potential energy surfaces and couplings enables the gate-based simulation of few-channel but otherwise realistic molecular collisions. Our approach is based on the widely used Born-Oppenheimer approximation for the structure problem coupled with a semiclassical method for the dynamics. In the latter the electrons are treated quantum mechanically but the nuclei are classical, which restricts the collisions to high energy or temperature (typically above ≈ 10 eV). By using operator splitting techniques optimized for the resulting time-dependent Hamiltonian simulation problem, we give several physically realistic collision examples, with 3-8 channels and circuit depths < 1000.

  14. Toward prethreshold gate-based quantum simulation of chemical dynamics: using potential energy surfaces to simulate few-channel molecular collisions

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Sornborger, Andrew Tyler; Stancil, Phillip; Geller, Michael R.

    Here, one of the most promising applications of an error-corrected universal quantum computer is the efficient simulation of complex quantum systems such as large molecular systems. In this application, one is interested in both the electronic structure such as the ground state energy and dynamical properties such as the scattering cross section and chemical reaction rates. However, most theoretical work and experimental demonstrations have focused on the quantum computation of energies and energy surfaces. In this work, we attempt to make the prethreshold (not error-corrected) quantum simulation of dynamical properties practical as well. We show that the use of precomputedmore » potential energy surfaces and couplings enables the gate-based simulation of few-channel but otherwise realistic molecular collisions. Our approach is based on the widely used Born–Oppenheimer approximation for the structure problem coupled with a semiclassical method for the dynamics. In the latter the electrons are treated quantum mechanically but the nuclei are classical, which restricts the collisions to high energy or temperature (typically above ≈10 eV). By using operator splitting techniques optimized for the resulting time-dependent Hamiltonian simulation problem, we give several physically realistic collision examples, with 3–8 channels and circuit depths < 1000.« less

  15. An Improved Filtering Method for Quantum Color Image in Frequency Domain

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Panchi; Xiao, Hong

    2018-01-01

    In this paper we investigate the use of quantum Fourier transform (QFT) in the field of image processing. We consider QFT-based color image filtering operations and their applications in image smoothing, sharpening, and selective filtering using quantum frequency domain filters. The underlying principle used for constructing the proposed quantum filters is to use the principle of the quantum Oracle to implement the filter function. Compared with the existing methods, our method is not only suitable for color images, but also can flexibly design the notch filters. We provide the quantum circuit that implements the filtering task and present the results of several simulation experiments on color images. The major advantages of the quantum frequency filtering lies in the exploitation of the efficient implementation of the quantum Fourier transform.

  16. Combined use of computational chemistry and chemoinformatics methods for chemical discovery

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Sugimoto, Manabu, E-mail: sugimoto@kumamoto-u.ac.jp; Institute for Molecular Science, 38 Nishigo-Naka, Myodaiji, Okazaki 444-8585; CREST, Japan Science and Technology Agency, 4-1-8 Honcho, Kawaguchi, Saitama 332-0012

    2015-12-31

    Data analysis on numerical data by the computational chemistry calculations is carried out to obtain knowledge information of molecules. A molecular database is developed to systematically store chemical, electronic-structure, and knowledge-based information. The database is used to find molecules related to a keyword of “cancer”. Then the electronic-structure calculations are performed to quantitatively evaluate quantum chemical similarity of the molecules. Among the 377 compounds registered in the database, 24 molecules are found to be “cancer”-related. This set of molecules includes both carcinogens and anticancer drugs. The quantum chemical similarity analysis, which is carried out by using numerical results of themore » density-functional theory calculations, shows that, when some energy spectra are referred to, carcinogens are reasonably distinguished from the anticancer drugs. Therefore these spectral properties are considered of as important measures for classification.« less

  17. Surface emitting ring quantum cascade lasers for chemical sensing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Szedlak, Rolf; Hayden, Jakob; Martín-Mateos, Pedro; Holzbauer, Martin; Harrer, Andreas; Schwarz, Benedikt; Hinkov, Borislav; MacFarland, Donald; Zederbauer, Tobias; Detz, Hermann; Andrews, Aaron Maxwell; Schrenk, Werner; Acedo, Pablo; Lendl, Bernhard; Strasser, Gottfried

    2018-01-01

    We review recent advances in chemical sensing applications based on surface emitting ring quantum cascade lasers (QCLs). Such lasers can be implemented in monolithically integrated on-chip laser/detector devices forming compact gas sensors, which are based on direct absorption spectroscopy according to the Beer-Lambert law. Furthermore, we present experimental results on radio frequency modulation up to 150 MHz of surface emitting ring QCLs. This technique provides detailed insight into the modulation characteristics of such lasers. The gained knowledge facilitates the utilization of ring QCLs in combination with spectroscopic techniques, such as heterodyne phase-sensitive dispersion spectroscopy for gas detection and analysis.

  18. Simulating chemistry using quantum computers.

    PubMed

    Kassal, Ivan; Whitfield, James D; Perdomo-Ortiz, Alejandro; Yung, Man-Hong; Aspuru-Guzik, Alán

    2011-01-01

    The difficulty of simulating quantum systems, well known to quantum chemists, prompted the idea of quantum computation. One can avoid the steep scaling associated with the exact simulation of increasingly large quantum systems on conventional computers, by mapping the quantum system to another, more controllable one. In this review, we discuss to what extent the ideas in quantum computation, now a well-established field, have been applied to chemical problems. We describe algorithms that achieve significant advantages for the electronic-structure problem, the simulation of chemical dynamics, protein folding, and other tasks. Although theory is still ahead of experiment, we outline recent advances that have led to the first chemical calculations on small quantum information processors.

  19. Reassigning the Structures of Natural Products Using NMR Chemical Shifts Computed with Quantum Mechanics: A Laboratory Exercise

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Palazzo, Teresa A.; Truong, Tiana T.; Wong, Shirley M. T.; Mack, Emma T.; Lodewyk, Michael W.; Harrison, Jason G.; Gamage, R. Alan; Siegel, Justin B.; Kurth, Mark J.; Tantillo, Dean J.

    2015-01-01

    An applied computational chemistry laboratory exercise is described in which students use modern quantum chemical calculations of chemical shifts to assign the structure of a recently isolated natural product. A pre/post assessment was used to measure student learning gains and verify that students demonstrated proficiency of key learning…

  20. Higher-order methods for simulations on quantum computers

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Sornborger, A.T.; Stewart, E.D.

    1999-09-01

    To implement many-qubit gates for use in quantum simulations on quantum computers efficiently, we develop and present methods reexpressing exp[[minus]i(H[sub 1]+H[sub 2]+[center dot][center dot][center dot])[Delta]t] as a product of factors exp[[minus]iH[sub 1][Delta]t], exp[[minus]iH[sub 2][Delta]t],[hor ellipsis], which is accurate to third or fourth order in [Delta]t. The methods we derive are an extended form of the symplectic method, and can also be used for an integration of classical Hamiltonians on classical computers. We derive both integral and irrational methods, and find the most efficient methods in both cases. [copyright] [ital 1999] [ital The American Physical Society

  1. Include dispersion in quantum chemical modeling of enzymatic reactions: the case of isoaspartyl dipeptidase.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Hai-Mei; Chen, Shi-Lu

    2015-06-09

    The lack of dispersion in the B3LYP functional has been proposed to be the main origin of big errors in quantum chemical modeling of a few enzymes and transition metal complexes. In this work, the essential dispersion effects that affect quantum chemical modeling are investigated. With binuclear zinc isoaspartyl dipeptidase (IAD) as an example, dispersion is included in the modeling of enzymatic reactions by two different procedures, i.e., (i) geometry optimizations followed by single-point calculations of dispersion (approach I) and (ii) the inclusion of dispersion throughout geometry optimization and energy evaluation (approach II). Based on a 169-atom chemical model, the calculations show a qualitative consistency between approaches I and II in energetics and most key geometries, demonstrating that both approaches are available with the latter preferential since both geometry and energy are dispersion-corrected in approach II. When a smaller model without Arg233 (147 atoms) was used, an inconsistency was observed, indicating that the missing dispersion interactions are essentially responsible for determining equilibrium geometries. Other technical issues and mechanistic characteristics of IAD are also discussed, in particular with respect to the effects of Arg233.

  2. An eigenvalue approach to quantum plasmonics based on a self-consistent hydrodynamics method

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ding, Kun; Chan, C. T.

    2018-02-01

    Plasmonics has attracted much attention not only because it has useful properties such as strong field enhancement, but also because it reveals the quantum nature of matter. To handle quantum plasmonics effects, ab initio packages or empirical Feibelman d-parameters have been used to explore the quantum correction of plasmonic resonances. However, most of these methods are formulated within the quasi-static framework. The self-consistent hydrodynamics model offers a reliable approach to study quantum plasmonics because it can incorporate the quantum effect of the electron gas into classical electrodynamics in a consistent manner. Instead of the standard scattering method, we formulate the self-consistent hydrodynamics method as an eigenvalue problem to study quantum plasmonics with electrons and photons treated on the same footing. We find that the eigenvalue approach must involve a global operator, which originates from the energy functional of the electron gas. This manifests the intrinsic nonlocality of the response of quantum plasmonic resonances. Our model gives the analytical forms of quantum corrections to plasmonic modes, incorporating quantum electron spill-out effects and electrodynamical retardation. We apply our method to study the quantum surface plasmon polariton for a single flat interface.

  3. Carbon quantum dots and a method of making the same

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Zidan, Ragaiy; Teprovich, Joseph A.; Washington, Aaron L.

    The present invention is directed to a method of preparing a carbon quantum dot. The carbon quantum dot can be prepared from a carbon precursor, such as a fullerene, and a complex metal hydride. The present invention also discloses a carbon quantum dot made by reacting a carbon precursor with a complex metal hydride and a polymer containing a carbon quantum dot made by reacting a carbon precursor with a complex metal hydride.

  4. Development of multicomponent hybrid density functional theory with polarizable continuum model for the analysis of nuclear quantum effect and solvent effect on NMR chemical shift.

    PubMed

    Kanematsu, Yusuke; Tachikawa, Masanori

    2014-04-28

    We have developed the multicomponent hybrid density functional theory [MC_(HF+DFT)] method with polarizable continuum model (PCM) for the analysis of molecular properties including both nuclear quantum effect and solvent effect. The chemical shifts and H/D isotope shifts of the picolinic acid N-oxide (PANO) molecule in chloroform and acetonitrile solvents are applied by B3LYP electron exchange-correlation functional for our MC_(HF+DFT) method with PCM (MC_B3LYP/PCM). Our MC_B3LYP/PCM results for PANO are in reasonable agreement with the corresponding experimental chemical shifts and isotope shifts. We further investigated the applicability of our method for acetylacetone in several solvents.

  5. Method for adding nodes to a quantum key distribution system

    DOEpatents

    Grice, Warren P

    2015-02-24

    An improved quantum key distribution (QKD) system and method are provided. The system and method introduce new clients at intermediate points along a quantum channel, where any two clients can establish a secret key without the need for a secret meeting between the clients. The new clients perform operations on photons as they pass through nodes in the quantum channel, and participate in a non-secret protocol that is amended to include the new clients. The system and method significantly increase the number of clients that can be supported by a conventional QKD system, with only a modest increase in cost. The system and method are compatible with a variety of QKD schemes, including polarization, time-bin, continuous variable and entanglement QKD.

  6. Quantum Metropolis sampling.

    PubMed

    Temme, K; Osborne, T J; Vollbrecht, K G; Poulin, D; Verstraete, F

    2011-03-03

    The original motivation to build a quantum computer came from Feynman, who imagined a machine capable of simulating generic quantum mechanical systems--a task that is believed to be intractable for classical computers. Such a machine could have far-reaching applications in the simulation of many-body quantum physics in condensed-matter, chemical and high-energy systems. Part of Feynman's challenge was met by Lloyd, who showed how to approximately decompose the time evolution operator of interacting quantum particles into a short sequence of elementary gates, suitable for operation on a quantum computer. However, this left open the problem of how to simulate the equilibrium and static properties of quantum systems. This requires the preparation of ground and Gibbs states on a quantum computer. For classical systems, this problem is solved by the ubiquitous Metropolis algorithm, a method that has basically acquired a monopoly on the simulation of interacting particles. Here we demonstrate how to implement a quantum version of the Metropolis algorithm. This algorithm permits sampling directly from the eigenstates of the Hamiltonian, and thus evades the sign problem present in classical simulations. A small-scale implementation of this algorithm should be achievable with today's technology.

  7. A multiscale quantum mechanics/electromagnetics method for device simulations.

    PubMed

    Yam, ChiYung; Meng, Lingyi; Zhang, Yu; Chen, GuanHua

    2015-04-07

    Multiscale modeling has become a popular tool for research applying to different areas including materials science, microelectronics, biology, chemistry, etc. In this tutorial review, we describe a newly developed multiscale computational method, incorporating quantum mechanics into electronic device modeling with the electromagnetic environment included through classical electrodynamics. In the quantum mechanics/electromagnetics (QM/EM) method, the regions of the system where active electron scattering processes take place are treated quantum mechanically, while the surroundings are described by Maxwell's equations and a semiclassical drift-diffusion model. The QM model and the EM model are solved, respectively, in different regions of the system in a self-consistent manner. Potential distributions and current densities at the interface between QM and EM regions are employed as the boundary conditions for the quantum mechanical and electromagnetic simulations, respectively. The method is illustrated in the simulation of several realistic systems. In the case of junctionless field-effect transistors, transfer characteristics are obtained and a good agreement between experiments and simulations is achieved. Optical properties of a tandem photovoltaic cell are studied and the simulations demonstrate that multiple QM regions are coupled through the classical EM model. Finally, the study of a carbon nanotube-based molecular device shows the accuracy and efficiency of the QM/EM method.

  8. Multi-scale Methods in Quantum Field Theory

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Polyzou, W. N.; Michlin, Tracie; Bulut, Fatih

    2018-05-01

    Daubechies wavelets are used to make an exact multi-scale decomposition of quantum fields. For reactions that involve a finite energy that take place in a finite volume, the number of relevant quantum mechanical degrees of freedom is finite. The wavelet decomposition has natural resolution and volume truncations that can be used to isolate the relevant degrees of freedom. The application of flow equation methods to construct effective theories that decouple coarse and fine scale degrees of freedom is examined.

  9. Entropy generation in Gaussian quantum transformations: applying the replica method to continuous-variable quantum information theory

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gagatsos, Christos N.; Karanikas, Alexandros I.; Kordas, Georgios; Cerf, Nicolas J.

    2016-02-01

    In spite of their simple description in terms of rotations or symplectic transformations in phase space, quadratic Hamiltonians such as those modelling the most common Gaussian operations on bosonic modes remain poorly understood in terms of entropy production. For instance, determining the quantum entropy generated by a Bogoliubov transformation is notably a hard problem, with generally no known analytical solution, while it is vital to the characterisation of quantum communication via bosonic channels. Here we overcome this difficulty by adapting the replica method, a tool borrowed from statistical physics and quantum field theory. We exhibit a first application of this method to continuous-variable quantum information theory, where it enables accessing entropies in an optical parametric amplifier. As an illustration, we determine the entropy generated by amplifying a binary superposition of the vacuum and a Fock state, which yields a surprisingly simple, yet unknown analytical expression.

  10. Study of quantum correlation swapping with relative entropy methods

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xie, Chuanmei; Liu, Yimin; Chen, Jianlan; Zhang, Zhanjun

    2016-02-01

    To generate long-distance shared quantum correlations (QCs) for information processing in future quantum networks, recently we proposed the concept of QC repeater and its kernel technique named QC swapping. Besides, we extensively studied the QC swapping between two simple QC resources (i.e., a pair of Werner states) with four different methods to quantify QCs (Xie et al. in Quantum Inf Process 14:653-679, 2015). In this paper, we continue to treat the same issue by employing other three different methods associated with relative entropies, i.e., the MPSVW method (Modi et al. in Phys Rev Lett 104:080501, 2010), the Zhang method (arXiv:1011.4333 [quant-ph]) and the RS method (Rulli and Sarandy in Phys Rev A 84:042109, 2011). We first derive analytic expressions of all QCs which occur during the swapping process and then reveal their properties about monotonicity and threshold. Importantly, we find that a long-distance shared QC can be generated from two short-distance ones via QC swapping indeed. In addition, we simply compare our present results with our previous ones.

  11. Blinking correlation in nanocrystal quantum dots probed with novel laser scanning confocal microscopy methods

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hefti, Ryan Alf

    Semiconductor quantum dots have a vast array of applications: as fluorescent labels in biological systems, as physical or chemical sensors, as components in photovoltaic technology, and in display devices. An attribute of nearly every quantum dot is its blinking, or fluorescence intermittency, which tends to be a disadvantage in most applications. Despite the fact that blinking has been a nearly universal phenomenon among all types of fluorescent constructs, it is more prevalent in quantum dots than in traditional fluorophores. Furthermore, no unanimously accepted model of quantum dot blinking yet exists. The work encompassed by this dissertation began with an in-depth study of molecular motor protein dynamics in a variety of environments using two specially developed techniques, both of which feature applicability to live cell systems. Parked-beam confocal microscopy was utilized to increase temporal resolution of molecular motor motion dynamics by an order of magnitude over other popular methods. The second technique, fast-scanning confocal microscopy (FSCM), was used for long range observation of motor proteins. While using FSCM on motor protein assays, we discovered an unusual phenomenon. Single quantum dots seemingly communicated with neighboring quantum dots, indicated by a distinct correlation in their blinking patterns. In order to explain this novel correlation phenomenon, the majority of blinking models developed thus far would suggest a dipole-dipole interaction or a Coulomb interaction between singly charged quantum dots. However, our results indicate that the interaction energy is higher than supported by current models, thereby prompting a renewed examination. We propose that the blinking correlation we observed is due to a Coulomb interaction on the order of 3-4 elementary charges per quantum dot and that multiple charging of individual quantum dots may be required to plunge them into a non-emissive state. As a result of charging, charge carriers are

  12. Investigation of electronic structure of tri- and tetranuclear molybdenum clusters by X-ray photoelectron and emission spectroscopies and quantum chemical methods

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kryuchkova, Natalya A.; Syrokvashin, Mikhail M.; Gushchin, Artem L.; Korotaev, Evgeniy V.; Kalinkin, Alexander V.; Laricheva, Yuliya A.; Sokolov, Maxim N.

    2018-02-01

    Charge state studies of compounds [Mo3S4(tu)8(H2O)]Cl4·4H2O (1), [Mo3S4Cl3(dbbpy)3]Cl·5H2O (2), [Mo3S4(CuCl)Cl3(dbbpy)3][CuCl2] (3), containing {Mo3S4}4+ and {Mo3CuS4}5+ cluster cores bearing terminal thiourea (tu) or 4,4‧-di-tert-butyl-2,2‧-bipyridine (dbbpy) ligands, have been performed by X-ray photoelectron and X-ray emission spectroscopies combined with quantum chemical calculations. The best agreement between theory and experiments has been obtained using the B3LYP method. According to the experimental and calculated data, the Mo atoms are in the oxidation state 4+ for all compounds. The energies and shapes of the Cu2p lines indicate formal oxidation states of Cu as 1+. The coordination of Cu(I) to the cluster {Mo3S4} in 3 does not lead to significant changes in the charge state of the molybdenum atoms and the {Mo3S4} unit can be considered as a tridentate metallothia crown ether.

  13. Sulfate radical oxidation of aromatic contaminants: a detailed assessment of density functional theory and high-level quantum chemical methods.

    PubMed

    Pari, Sangavi; Wang, Inger A; Liu, Haizhou; Wong, Bryan M

    2017-03-22

    Advanced oxidation processes that utilize highly oxidative radicals are widely used in water reuse treatment. In recent years, the application of sulfate radical (SO 4 ˙ - ) as a promising oxidant for water treatment has gained increasing attention. To understand the efficiency of SO 4 ˙ - in the degradation of organic contaminants in wastewater effluent, it is important to be able to predict the reaction kinetics of various SO 4 ˙ - -driven oxidation reactions. In this study, we utilize density functional theory (DFT) and high-level wavefunction-based methods (including computationally-intensive coupled cluster methods), to explore the activation energies of SO 4 ˙ - -driven oxidation reactions on a series of benzene-derived contaminants. These high-level calculations encompass a wide set of reactions including 110 forward/reverse reactions and 5 different computational methods in total. Based on the high-level coupled-cluster quantum calculations, we find that the popular M06-2X DFT functional is significantly more accurate for OH - additions than for SO 4 ˙ - reactions. Most importantly, we highlight some of the limitations and deficiencies of other computational methods, and we recommend the use of high-level quantum calculations to spot-check environmental chemistry reactions that may lie outside the training set of the M06-2X functional, particularly for water oxidation reactions that involve SO 4 ˙ - and other inorganic species.

  14. Classical-processing and quantum-processing signal separation methods for qubit uncoupling

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Deville, Yannick; Deville, Alain

    2012-12-01

    The Blind Source Separation problem consists in estimating a set of unknown source signals from their measured combinations. It was only investigated in a non-quantum framework up to now. We propose its first quantum extensions. We thus introduce the Quantum Source Separation field, investigating both its blind and non-blind configurations. More precisely, we show how to retrieve individual quantum bits (qubits) only from the global state resulting from their undesired coupling. We consider cylindrical-symmetry Heisenberg coupling, which e.g. occurs when two electron spins interact through exchange. We first propose several qubit uncoupling methods which typically measure repeatedly the coupled quantum states resulting from individual qubits preparations, and which then statistically process the classical data provided by these measurements. Numerical tests prove the effectiveness of these methods. We then derive a combination of quantum gates for performing qubit uncoupling, thus avoiding repeated qubit preparations and irreversible measurements.

  15. Predicting allergic contact dermatitis: a hierarchical structure activity relationship (SAR) approach to chemical classification using topological and quantum chemical descriptors

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Basak, Subhash C.; Mills, Denise; Hawkins, Douglas M.

    2008-06-01

    A hierarchical classification study was carried out based on a set of 70 chemicals—35 which produce allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) and 35 which do not. This approach was implemented using a regular ridge regression computer code, followed by conversion of regression output to binary data values. The hierarchical descriptor classes used in the modeling include topostructural (TS), topochemical (TC), and quantum chemical (QC), all of which are based solely on chemical structure. The concordance, sensitivity, and specificity are reported. The model based on the TC descriptors was found to be the best, while the TS model was extremely poor.

  16. Fast synthesize ZnO quantum dots via ultrasonic method.

    PubMed

    Yang, Weimin; Zhang, Bing; Ding, Nan; Ding, Wenhao; Wang, Lixi; Yu, Mingxun; Zhang, Qitu

    2016-05-01

    Green emission ZnO quantum dots were synthesized by an ultrasonic sol-gel method. The ZnO quantum dots were synthesized in various ultrasonic temperature and time. Photoluminescence properties of these ZnO quantum dots were measured. Time-resolved photoluminescence decay spectra were also taken to discover the change of defects amount during the reaction. Both ultrasonic temperature and time could affect the type and amount of defects in ZnO quantum dots. Total defects of ZnO quantum dots decreased with the increasing of ultrasonic temperature and time. The dangling bonds defects disappeared faster than the optical defects. Types of optical defects first changed from oxygen interstitial defects to oxygen vacancy and zinc interstitial defects. Then transformed back to oxygen interstitial defects again. The sizes of ZnO quantum dots would be controlled by both ultrasonic temperature and time as well. That is, with the increasing of ultrasonic temperature and time, the sizes of ZnO quantum dots first decreased then increased. Moreover, concentrated raw materials solution brought larger sizes and more optical defects of ZnO quantum dots. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  17. Characterization of heterocyclic rings through quantum chemical topology.

    PubMed

    Griffiths, Mark Z; Popelier, Paul L A

    2013-07-22

    Five-membered rings are found in a myriad of molecules important in a wide range of areas such as catalysis, nutrition, and drug and agrochemical design. Systematic insight into their largely unexplored chemical space benefits from first principle calculations presented here. This study comprehensively investigates a grand total of 764 different rings, all geometry optimized at the B3LYP/6-311+G(2d,p) level, from the perspective of Quantum Chemical Topology (QCT). For the first time, a 3D space of local topological properties was introduced, in order to characterize rings compactly. This space is called RCP space, after the so-called ring critical point. This space is analogous to BCP space, named after the bond critical point, which compactly and successfully characterizes a chemical bond. The relative positions of the rings in RCP space are determined by the nature of the ring scaffold, such as the heteroatoms within the ring or the number of π-bonds. The summed atomic QCT charges of the five ring atoms revealed five features (number and type of heteroatom, number of π-bonds, substituent and substitution site) that dictate a ring's net charge. Each feature independently contributes toward a ring's net charge. Each substituent has its own distinct and systematic effect on the ring's net charge, irrespective of the ring scaffold. Therefore, this work proves the possibility of designing a ring with specific properties by fine-tuning it through manipulation of these five features.

  18. Charge-dependent non-bonded interaction methods for use in quantum mechanical modeling of condensed phase reactions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kuechler, Erich R.

    Molecular modeling and computer simulation techniques can provide detailed insight into biochemical phenomena. This dissertation describes the development, implementation and parameterization of two methods for the accurate modeling of chemical reactions in aqueous environments, with a concerted scientific effort towards the inclusion of charge-dependent non-bonded non-electrostatic interactions into currently used computational frameworks. The first of these models, QXD, modifies interactions in a hybrid quantum mechanical/molecular (QM/MM) mechanical framework to overcome the current limitations of 'atom typing' QM atoms; an inaccurate and non-intuitive practice for chemically active species as these static atom types are dictated by the local bonding and electrostatic environment of the atoms they represent, which will change over the course of the simulation. The efficacy QXD model is demonstrated using a specific reaction parameterization (SRP) of the Austin Model 1 (AM1) Hamiltonian by simultaneously capturing the reaction barrier for chloride ion attack on methylchloride in solution and the solvation free energies of a series of compounds including the reagents of the reaction. The second, VRSCOSMO, is an implicit solvation model for use with the DFTB3/3OB Hamiltonian for biochemical reactions; allowing for accurate modeling of ionic compound solvation properties while overcoming the discontinuous nature of conventional PCM models when chemical reaction coordinates. The VRSCOSMO model is shown to accurately model the solvation properties of over 200 chemical compounds while also providing smooth, continuous reaction surfaces for a series of biologically motivated phosphoryl transesterification reactions. Both of these methods incorporate charge-dependent behavior into the non-bonded interactions variationally, allowing the 'size' of atoms to change in meaningful ways with respect to changes in local charge state, as to provide an accurate, predictive and

  19. Quantum chemical study on the stability of honeybee queen pheromone against atmospheric factors.

    PubMed

    Shi, Rongwei; Liu, Fanglin

    2016-06-01

    The managed honeybee, Apis mellifera, has been experienced a puzzling event, termed as colony collapse disorder (CCD), in which worker bees abruptly disappear from their hives. Potential factors include parasites, pesticides, malnutrition, and environmental stresses. However, so far, no definitive relationship has been established between specific causal factors and CCD events. Here we theoretically test whether atmospheric environment could disturb the chemical communication between the queen and their workers in a colony. A quantum chemistry method has been used to investigate for the stability of the component of A. mellifera queen mandibular pheromone (QMP), (E)-9-keto-2-decenoic acid (9-ODA), against atmospheric water and free radicals. The results show that 9-ODA is less likely to react with water due to the high barrier heights (~36.5 kcal · mol(-1)) and very low reaction rates. However, it can easily react with triplet oxygen and hydroxyl radicals because of low or negative energy barriers. Thus, the atmospheric free radicals may disturb the chemical communication between the queen and their daughters in a colony. Our pilot study provides new insight for the cause of CCD, which has been reported throughout the world.

  20. Prefixed-threshold real-time selection method in free-space quantum key distribution

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Wenyuan; Xu, Feihu; Lo, Hoi-Kwong

    2018-03-01

    Free-space quantum key distribution allows two parties to share a random key with unconditional security, between ground stations, between mobile platforms, and even in satellite-ground quantum communications. Atmospheric turbulence causes fluctuations in transmittance, which further affect the quantum bit error rate and the secure key rate. Previous postselection methods to combat atmospheric turbulence require a threshold value determined after all quantum transmission. In contrast, here we propose a method where we predetermine the optimal threshold value even before quantum transmission. Therefore, the receiver can discard useless data immediately, thus greatly reducing data storage requirements and computing resources. Furthermore, our method can be applied to a variety of protocols, including, for example, not only single-photon BB84 but also asymptotic and finite-size decoy-state BB84, which can greatly increase its practicality.

  1. Quantum dot nanoparticle conjugation, characterization, and applications in neuroscience

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pathak, Smita

    Quantum dot are semiconducting nanoparticles that have been used for decades in a variety of applications such as solar cells, LEDs and medical imaging. Their use in the last area, however, has been extremely limited despite their potential as revolutionary new biological labeling tools. Quantum dots are much brighter and more stable than conventional fluorophores, making them optimal for high resolution imaging and long term studies. Prior work in this area involves synthesizing and chemically conjugating quantum dots to molecules of interest in-house. However this method is both time consuming and prone to human error. Additionally, non-specific binding and nanoparticle aggregation currently prevent researchers from utilizing this system to its fullest capacity. Another critical issue that has not been addressed is determining the number of ligands bound to nanoparticles, which is crucial for proper interpretation of results. In this work, methods to label fixed cells using two types of chemically modified quantum dots are studied. Reproducible non-specific artifact labeling is consistently demonstrated if antibody-quantum dot conditions are less than optimal. In order to explain this, antibodies bound to quantum dots were characterized and quantified. While other groups have qualitatively characterized antibody functionalized quantum dots using TEM, AFM, UV spectroscopy and gel electrophoresis, and in some cases have reported calculated estimates of the putative number of total antibodies bound to quantum dots, no quantitative experimental results had been reported prior to this work. The chemical functionalization and characterization of quantum dot nanocrystals achieved in this work elucidates binding mechanisms of ligands to nanoparticles and allows researchers to not only translate our tools to studies in their own areas of interest but also derive quantitative results from these studies. This research brings ease of use and increased reliability to

  2. Towards quantum chemistry on a quantum computer.

    PubMed

    Lanyon, B P; Whitfield, J D; Gillett, G G; Goggin, M E; Almeida, M P; Kassal, I; Biamonte, J D; Mohseni, M; Powell, B J; Barbieri, M; Aspuru-Guzik, A; White, A G

    2010-02-01

    Exact first-principles calculations of molecular properties are currently intractable because their computational cost grows exponentially with both the number of atoms and basis set size. A solution is to move to a radically different model of computing by building a quantum computer, which is a device that uses quantum systems themselves to store and process data. Here we report the application of the latest photonic quantum computer technology to calculate properties of the smallest molecular system: the hydrogen molecule in a minimal basis. We calculate the complete energy spectrum to 20 bits of precision and discuss how the technique can be expanded to solve large-scale chemical problems that lie beyond the reach of modern supercomputers. These results represent an early practical step toward a powerful tool with a broad range of quantum-chemical applications.

  3. Chemical and explosive detections using photo-acoustic effect and quantum cascade lasers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Choa, Fow-Sen

    2013-12-01

    Photoacoustic (PA) effect is a sensitive spectroscopic technique for chemical sensing. In recent years, with the development of quantum cascade lasers (QCLs), significant progress has been achieved for PA sensing applications. Using high-power, tunable mid-IR QCLs as laser sources, PA chemical sensor systems have demonstrated parts-pertrillion- level detection sensitivity. Many of these high sensitivity measurements were demonstrated locally in PA cells. Recently, we have demonstrated standoff PA detection of isopropanol vapor for more than 41 feet distance using a quantum cascade laser and a microphone with acoustic reflectors. We also further demonstrated solid phase TNT detections at a standoff distance of 8 feet. To further calibrate the detection sensitivity, we use nerve gas simulants that were generated and calibrated by a commercial vapor generator. Standoff detection of gas samples with calibrated concentration of 2.3 ppm was achieved at a detection distance of more than 2 feet. An extended detection distance up to 14 feet was observed for a higher gas concentration of 13.9 ppm. For field operations, array of microphones and microphone-reflector pairs can be utilized to achieve noise rejection and signal enhancement. We have experimentally demonstrated that the signal and noise spectra of the 4 microphone/4 reflector system with a combined SNR of 12.48 dB. For the 16-microphone and one reflector case, an SNR of 17.82 was achieved. These successful chemical sensing demonstrations will likely create new demands for widely tunable QCLs with ultralow threshold (for local fire-alarm size detection systems) and high-power (for standoff detection systems) performances.

  4. Determination of the transmission coefficients for quantum structures using FDTD method.

    PubMed

    Peng, Yangyang; Wang, Xiaoying; Sui, Wenquan

    2011-12-01

    The purpose of this work is to develop a simple method to incorporate quantum effect in traditional finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulators. Witch could make it possible to co-simulate systems include quantum structures and traditional components. In this paper, tunneling transmission coefficient is calculated by solving time-domain Schrödinger equation with a developed FDTD technique, called FDTD-S method. To validate the feasibility of the method, a simple resonant tunneling diode (RTD) structure model has been simulated using the proposed method. The good agreement between the numerical and analytical results proves its accuracy. The effectness and accuracy of this approach makes it a potential method for analysis and design of hybrid systems includes quantum structures and traditional components.

  5. Semiempirical Quantum Chemical Calculations Accelerated on a Hybrid Multicore CPU-GPU Computing Platform.

    PubMed

    Wu, Xin; Koslowski, Axel; Thiel, Walter

    2012-07-10

    In this work, we demonstrate that semiempirical quantum chemical calculations can be accelerated significantly by leveraging the graphics processing unit (GPU) as a coprocessor on a hybrid multicore CPU-GPU computing platform. Semiempirical calculations using the MNDO, AM1, PM3, OM1, OM2, and OM3 model Hamiltonians were systematically profiled for three types of test systems (fullerenes, water clusters, and solvated crambin) to identify the most time-consuming sections of the code. The corresponding routines were ported to the GPU and optimized employing both existing library functions and a GPU kernel that carries out a sequence of noniterative Jacobi transformations during pseudodiagonalization. The overall computation times for single-point energy calculations and geometry optimizations of large molecules were reduced by one order of magnitude for all methods, as compared to runs on a single CPU core.

  6. Applicability of transfer tensor method for open quantum system dynamics.

    PubMed

    Gelzinis, Andrius; Rybakovas, Edvardas; Valkunas, Leonas

    2017-12-21

    Accurate simulations of open quantum system dynamics is a long standing issue in the field of chemical physics. Exact methods exist, but are costly, while perturbative methods are limited in their applicability. Recently a new black-box type method, called transfer tensor method (TTM), was proposed [J. Cerrillo and J. Cao, Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 110401 (2014)]. It allows one to accurately simulate long time dynamics with a numerical cost of solving a time-convolution master equation, provided many initial system evolution trajectories are obtained from some exact method beforehand. The possible time-savings thus strongly depend on the ratio of total versus initial evolution lengths. In this work, we investigate the parameter regimes where an application of TTM would be most beneficial in terms of computational time. We identify several promising parameter regimes. Although some of them correspond to cases when perturbative theories could be expected to perform well, we find that the accuracy of such approaches depends on system parameters in a more complex way than it is commonly thought. We propose that the TTM should be applied whenever system evolution is expected to be long and accuracy of perturbative methods cannot be ensured or in cases when the system under consideration does not correspond to any single perturbative regime.

  7. A comparative experimental and quantum chemical study on monomeric and dimeric structures of 3,5-dibromoanthranilic acid.

    PubMed

    Karabacak, Mehmet; Cinar, Mehmet

    2012-10-01

    This study presents the structural and spectroscopic characterization of 3,5-dibromoanthranilic acid with help of experimental techniques (FT-IR, FT-Raman, UV, NMR) and quantum chemical calculations. The vibrational spectra of title compound were recorded in solid state with FT-IR and FT-Raman in the range of 4000-400 and 4000-50 cm(-1), respectively. The vibrational frequencies were also computed using B3LYP method of DFT with 6-311++G(d,p) basis set. The fundamental assignments were done on the basis of the total energy distribution (TED) of the vibrational modes, calculated with scaled quantum mechanical (SQM) method. The (1)H, (13)C and DEPT NMR spectra were recorded in DMSO solution and calculated by gauge-invariant atomic orbitals (GIAO) method. The UV absorption spectra of the compound were recorded in the range of 200-400 nm in ethanol, water and DMSO solutions. Solvent effects were calculated using time-dependent density functional theory and CIS method. The ground state geometrical structure of compound was predicted by B3LYP method and compared with the crystallographic structure of similar compounds. All calculations were made for monomeric and dimeric structure of compound. Moreover, molecular electrostatic potential (MEP) and thermodynamic properties were performed. Mulliken atomic charges of neutral and anionic form of the molecule were computed and compared with anthranilic acid. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  8. Stability-Indicating TLC-Densitometric Assay for Methyltestosterone and Quantum Chemical Calculations.

    PubMed

    Musharraf, Syed Ghulam; Ul Arfeen, Qamar; Ul Haq, Faraz; Khatoon, Aliya; Azher Ali, Rahat

    2017-10-01

    Methyltestosterone is a synthetic testosterone derivative commonly used for the treatment of testosterone deficiency in males and one the anabolic steroids whose use is banned by World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). This study presents a simple, cost-effective and rapid stability-indicating assay for densitometric quantification of methyltestosterone in pharmaceutical formulation. The developed method employed pre-coated TLC plates with mobile phase hexane:acetone (6.5:3.5 v/v). Limit of detection and limit of quantitation were found to be 2.06 and 6.24 ng/spot, respectively. Stress degradation study of methyltestosterone was conducted by applying various stress conditions such as hydrolysis under acidic, basic and neutral conditions, heating in anhydrous conditions and exposure to light. Methyltestosterone was found to be susceptible to photodegradation, acidic and basic hydrolysis. Degraded products were well resolved with significantly different Rf values. Acid degraded product was identified as 17,17-dimethyl-18-norandrosta-4,13(14)-dien-3-one through spectroscopic methods. The reactivity of methyltestosterone under applied stress conditions was also explained by quantum chemical calculations. The developed method is found to be repeatable, selective and accurate for quantification of methyltestosterone and can be employed for routine analysis. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  9. Calculation of wave-functions with frozen orbitals in mixed quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics methods. Part I. Application of the Huzinaga equation.

    PubMed

    Ferenczy, György G

    2013-04-05

    Mixed quantum mechanics/quantum mechanics (QM/QM) and quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) methods make computations feasible for extended chemical systems by separating them into subsystems that are treated at different level of sophistication. In many applications, the subsystems are covalently bound and the use of frozen localized orbitals at the boundary is a possible way to separate the subsystems and to ensure a sensible description of the electronic structure near to the boundary. A complication in these methods is that orthogonality between optimized and frozen orbitals has to be warranted and this is usually achieved by an explicit orthogonalization of the basis set to the frozen orbitals. An alternative to this approach is proposed by calculating the wave-function from the Huzinaga equation that guaranties orthogonality to the frozen orbitals without basis set orthogonalization. The theoretical background and the practical aspects of the application of the Huzinaga equation in mixed methods are discussed. Forces have been derived to perform geometry optimization with wave-functions from the Huzinaga equation. Various properties have been calculated by applying the Huzinaga equation for the central QM subsystem, representing the environment by point charges and using frozen strictly localized orbitals to connect the subsystems. It is shown that a two to three bond separation of the chemical or physical event from the frozen bonds allows a very good reproduction (typically around 1 kcal/mol) of standard Hartree-Fock-Roothaan results. The proposed scheme provides an appropriate framework for mixed QM/QM and QM/MM methods. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  10. Experimental and Quantum-Chemical Study of Electronically Excited States of Protolytic Isovanillin Species

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vusovich, O. V.; Tchaikovskaya, O. N.; Sokolova, I. V.; Vasil'eva, N. Yu.

    2014-05-01

    Methods of electronic spectroscopy and quantum chemistry are used to compare protolytic vanillin and isovanillin species. Three protolytic species: anion, cation, and neutral are distinguished in the ground state of the examined molecules. Vanillin and isovanillin in the ground state in water possess identical spectral characteristics: line positions and intensities in the absorption spectra coincide. Minima of the electrostatic potential demonstrate that the deepest isomer minimum is observed on the carbonyl oxygen atom. However, investigations of the fluorescence spectra show that the radiative properties of isomers differ. An analysis of results of quantum-chemical calculations demonstrate that the long-wavelength ππ* transition in the vanillin absorption spectra is formed due to electron charge transfer from the phenol part of the molecule to oxygen atoms of the methoxy and carbonyl groups, and in the isovanillin absorption spectra, it is formed only on the oxygen atom of the methoxy group. The presence of hydroxyl and carbonyl groups in the structure of the examined molecules leads to the fact that isovanillin in the ground S0 state, the same as vanillin, possesses acidic properties, whereas in the excited S1 state, they possess basic properties. A comparison of the рKа values of aqueous solutions demonstrates that vanillin possesses stronger acidic and basic properties in comparison with isovanillin.

  11. The rate constant of a quantum-diffusion-controlled bimolecular reaction

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bondarev, B. V.

    1986-04-01

    A quantum-mechanical equation is derived in the tight-bond approximation which describes the motion and chemical interaction of a pair of species A and B when their displacement in the matrix is caused by tunnelling. Within the framework of the discrete model of random walks, definitions are given of the probability and rate constant of a reaction A + B → P (products) proceeding in a condensed medium. A method is suggested for calculating the rate constant of a quantum-diffusion-controlled bimolecular reaction. By this method, an expression is obtained for the rate constant in the stationary spherically symmetrical case. An equation for the density matrix is also proposed which describes the motion and chemical interaction of a pair of species when the quantum and classical diffusion are competitive.

  12. Prediction of contaminant persistence in aqueous phase: a quantum chemical approach.

    PubMed

    Blotevogel, Jens; Mayeno, Arthur N; Sale, Tom C; Borch, Thomas

    2011-03-15

    At contaminated field sites where active remediation measures are not feasible, monitored natural attenuation is sometimes the only alternative for surface water or groundwater decontamination. However, due to slow degradation rates of some contaminants under natural conditions, attenuation processes and their performance assessment can take several years to decades to complete. Here, we apply quantum chemical calculations to predict contaminant persistence in the aqueous phase. For the test compound hexamethylphosphoramide (HMPA), P-N bond hydrolysis is the only thermodynamically favorable reaction that may lead to its degradation under reducing conditions. Through calculation of aqueous Gibbs free energies of activation for all potential reaction mechanisms, it is predicted that HMPA hydrolyzes via an acid-catalyzed mechanism at pH < 8.2, and an uncatalyzed mechanism at pH 8.2-8.5. The estimated half-lives of thousands to hundreds of thousands of years over the groundwater-typical pH range of 6.0 to 8.5 indicate that HMPA will be persistent in the absence of suitable oxidants. At pH 0, where the hydrolysis reaction is rapid enough to enable measurement, the experimentally determined rate constant and half-life are in excellent agreement with the predicted values. Since the quantum chemical methodology described herein can be applied to virtually any contaminant or reaction of interest, it is especially valuable for the prediction of persistence when slow reaction rates impede experimental investigations and appropriate QSARs are unavailable.

  13. Some Phthalocyanine and Naphthalocyanine Derivatives as Corrosion Inhibitors for Aluminium in Acidic Medium: Experimental, Quantum Chemical Calculations, QSAR Studies and Synergistic Effect of Iodide Ions.

    PubMed

    Dibetsoe, Masego; Olasunkanmi, Lukman O; Fayemi, Omolola E; Yesudass, Sasikumar; Ramaganthan, Baskar; Bahadur, Indra; Adekunle, Abolanle S; Kabanda, Mwadham M; Ebenso, Eno E

    2015-08-28

    The effects of seven macrocyclic compounds comprising four phthalocyanines (Pcs) namely 1,4,8,11,15,18,22,25-octabutoxy-29H,31H-phthalocyanine (Pc1), 2,3,9,10,16,17,23,24-octakis(octyloxy)-29H,31H-phthalocyanine (Pc2), 2,9,16,23-tetra-tert-butyl-29H,31H-phthalocyanine (Pc3) and 29H,31H-phthalocyanine (Pc4), and three naphthalocyanines namely 5,9,14,18,23,27,32,36-octabutoxy-2,3-naphthalocyanine (nPc1), 2,11,20,29-tetra-tert-butyl-2,3-naphthalocyanine (nPc2) and 2,3-naphthalocyanine (nP3) were investigated on the corrosion of aluminium (Al) in 1 M HCl using a gravimetric method, potentiodynamic polarization technique, quantum chemical calculations and quantitative structure activity relationship (QSAR). Synergistic effects of KI on the corrosion inhibition properties of the compounds were also investigated. All the studied compounds showed appreciable inhibition efficiencies, which decrease with increasing temperature from 30 °C to 70 °C. At each concentration of the inhibitor, addition of 0.1% KI increased the inhibition efficiency compared to the absence of KI indicating the occurrence of synergistic interactions between the studied molecules and I(-) ions. From the potentiodynamic polarization studies, the studied Pcs and nPcs are mixed type corrosion inhibitors both without and with addition of KI. The adsorption of the studied molecules on Al surface obeys the Langmuir adsorption isotherm, while the thermodynamic and kinetic parameters revealed that the adsorption of the studied compounds on Al surface is spontaneous and involves competitive physisorption and chemisorption mechanisms. The experimental results revealed the aggregated interactions between the inhibitor molecules and the results further indicated that the peripheral groups on the compounds affect these interactions. The calculated quantum chemical parameters and the QSAR results revealed the possibility of strong interactions between the studied inhibitors and metal surface. QSAR analysis on the

  14. Exploiting Locality in Quantum Computation for Quantum Chemistry.

    PubMed

    McClean, Jarrod R; Babbush, Ryan; Love, Peter J; Aspuru-Guzik, Alán

    2014-12-18

    Accurate prediction of chemical and material properties from first-principles quantum chemistry is a challenging task on traditional computers. Recent developments in quantum computation offer a route toward highly accurate solutions with polynomial cost; however, this solution still carries a large overhead. In this Perspective, we aim to bring together known results about the locality of physical interactions from quantum chemistry with ideas from quantum computation. We show that the utilization of spatial locality combined with the Bravyi-Kitaev transformation offers an improvement in the scaling of known quantum algorithms for quantum chemistry and provides numerical examples to help illustrate this point. We combine these developments to improve the outlook for the future of quantum chemistry on quantum computers.

  15. Quantum image pseudocolor coding based on the density-stratified method

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jiang, Nan; Wu, Wenya; Wang, Luo; Zhao, Na

    2015-05-01

    Pseudocolor processing is a branch of image enhancement. It dyes grayscale images to color images to make the images more beautiful or to highlight some parts on the images. This paper proposes a quantum image pseudocolor coding scheme based on the density-stratified method which defines a colormap and changes the density value from gray to color parallel according to the colormap. Firstly, two data structures: quantum image GQIR and quantum colormap QCR are reviewed or proposed. Then, the quantum density-stratified algorithm is presented. Based on them, the quantum realization in the form of circuits is given. The main advantages of the quantum version for pseudocolor processing over the classical approach are that it needs less memory and can speed up the computation. Two kinds of examples help us to describe the scheme further. Finally, the future work are analyzed.

  16. Cyclic voltammetry as a sensitive method for in situ probing of chemical transformations in quantum dots.

    PubMed

    Osipovich, Nikolai P; Poznyak, Sergei K; Lesnyak, Vladimir; Gaponik, Nikolai

    2016-04-21

    The application of electrochemical methods for the characterization of colloidal quantum dots (QDs) attracts considerable attention as these methods may allow for monitoring of some crucial parameters, such as energetic levels of conduction and valence bands as well as surface traps and ligands under real conditions of colloidal solution. In the present work we extend the applications of cyclic voltammetry (CV) to in situ monitoring of degradation processes of water-soluble CdTe QDs. This degradation occurs under lowering of pH to the values around 5, i.e. under conditions relevant to bioimaging applications of these QDs, and is accompanied by pronounced changes of their photoluminescence. Observed correlations between characteristic features of CV diagrams and the fluorescence spectra allowed us to propose mechanisms responsible for evolution of the photoluminescence properties as well as degradation pathway of CdTe QDs at low pH.

  17. Simulated quantum computation of molecular energies.

    PubMed

    Aspuru-Guzik, Alán; Dutoi, Anthony D; Love, Peter J; Head-Gordon, Martin

    2005-09-09

    The calculation time for the energy of atoms and molecules scales exponentially with system size on a classical computer but polynomially using quantum algorithms. We demonstrate that such algorithms can be applied to problems of chemical interest using modest numbers of quantum bits. Calculations of the water and lithium hydride molecular ground-state energies have been carried out on a quantum computer simulator using a recursive phase-estimation algorithm. The recursive algorithm reduces the number of quantum bits required for the readout register from about 20 to 4. Mappings of the molecular wave function to the quantum bits are described. An adiabatic method for the preparation of a good approximate ground-state wave function is described and demonstrated for a stretched hydrogen molecule. The number of quantum bits required scales linearly with the number of basis functions, and the number of gates required grows polynomially with the number of quantum bits.

  18. Combined quantum and molecular mechanics (QM/MM).

    PubMed

    Friesner, Richard A

    2004-12-01

    We describe the current state of the art of mixed quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) methodology, with a particular focus on modeling of enzymatic reactions. Over the past decade, the effectiveness of these methods has increased dramatically, based on improved quantum chemical methods, advances in the description of the QM/MM interface, and reductions in the cost/performance of computing hardware. Two examples of pharmaceutically relevant applications, cytochrome P450 and class C β-lactamase, are presented.: © 2004 Elsevier Ltd . All rights reserved.

  19. Quantum chemical investigations of AlN-doped C60 for use as a nano-biosensor in detection of mispairing between DNA bases.

    PubMed

    Siddiqui, Shamoon Ahmad; Bouarissa, Nadir; Rasheed, Tabish; Al-Hajry, A

    2014-12-01

    Quantum chemical calculations were carried out to study the electronic structure and stability of adenine-thymine and the rare tautomer of adenine-thymine base pairs along with their Cu 2+ complexes and their interactions with AlN-modified fullerene (C58AlN) using Density Functional Theory (B3LYP method). Since, these two forms of base pairs and their Cu 2+ complexes have almost similar electronic structures, their chemical differentiation is an extremely difficult task. In this investigation, we have observed that AlN-doped C 60 could be used as a potentially viable nanoscale sensor to detect these two base pairs as well as their Cu2+ complexes.

  20. Quantum chemical determination of Young's modulus of lignin. Calculations on a beta-O-4' model compound.

    PubMed

    Elder, Thomas

    2007-11-01

    The calculation of Young's modulus of lignin has been examined by subjecting a dimeric model compound to strain, coupled with the determination of energy and stress. The computational results, derived from quantum chemical calculations, are in agreement with available experimental results. Changes in geometry indicate that modifications in dihedral angles occur in response to linear strain. At larger levels of strain, bond rupture is evidenced by abrupt changes in energy, structure, and charge. Based on the current calculations, the bond scission may be occurring through a homolytic reaction between aliphatic carbon atoms. These results may have implications in the reactivity of lignin especially when subjected to processing methods that place large mechanical forces on the structure.

  1. Degradation of Perfluorinated Ether Lubricants on Pure Aluminum Surfaces: Semiempirical Quantum Chemical Modeling

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Slaby, Scott M.; Ewing, David W.; Zehe, Michael J.

    1997-01-01

    The AM1 semiempirical quantum chemical method was used to model the interaction of perfluoroethers with aluminum surfaces. Perfluorodimethoxymethane and perfluorodimethyl ether were studied interacting with aluminum surfaces, which were modeled by a five-atom cluster and a nine-atom cluster. Interactions were studied for edge (high index) sites and top (low index) sites of the clusters. Both dissociative binding and nondissociative binding were found, with dissociative binding being stronger. The two different ethers bound and dissociated on the clusters in different ways: perfluorodimethoxymethane through its oxygen atoms, but perfluorodimethyl ether through its fluorine atoms. The acetal linkage of perfluorodimeth-oxymethane was the key structural feature of this molecule in its binding and dissociation on the aluminum surface models. The high-index sites of the clusters caused the dissociation of both ethers. These results are consistent with the experimental observation that perfluorinated ethers decompose in contact with sputtered aluminum surfaces.

  2. Quantum Dot and Polymer Composite Cross-Reactive Array for Chemical Vapor Detection.

    PubMed

    Bright, Collin J; Nallon, Eric C; Polcha, Michael P; Schnee, Vincent P

    2015-12-15

    A cross-reactive chemical sensing array was made from CdSe Quantum Dots (QDs) and five different organic polymers by inkjet printing to create segmented fluorescent composite regions on quartz substrates. The sensor array was challenged with exposures from two sets of analytes, including one set of 14 different functionalized benzenes and one set of 14 compounds related to security concerns, including the explosives trinitrotoluene (TNT) and ammonium nitrate. The array was broadly responsive to analytes with different chemical functionalities due to the multiple sensing mechanisms that altered the QDs' fluorescence. The sensor array displayed excellent discrimination between members within both sets. Classification accuracy of more than 93% was achieved, including the complete discrimination of very similar dinitrobenzene isomers and three halogenated, substituted benzene compounds. The simple fabrication, broad responsivity, and high discrimination capacity of this type of cross-reactive array are ideal qualities for the development of sensors with excellent sensitivity to chemical and explosive threats while maintaining low false alarm rates.

  3. Full Quantum Dynamics Simulation of a Realistic Molecular System Using the Adaptive Time-Dependent Density Matrix Renormalization Group Method.

    PubMed

    Yao, Yao; Sun, Ke-Wei; Luo, Zhen; Ma, Haibo

    2018-01-18

    The accurate theoretical interpretation of ultrafast time-resolved spectroscopy experiments relies on full quantum dynamics simulations for the investigated system, which is nevertheless computationally prohibitive for realistic molecular systems with a large number of electronic and/or vibrational degrees of freedom. In this work, we propose a unitary transformation approach for realistic vibronic Hamiltonians, which can be coped with using the adaptive time-dependent density matrix renormalization group (t-DMRG) method to efficiently evolve the nonadiabatic dynamics of a large molecular system. We demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of this approach with an example of simulating the exciton dissociation process within an oligothiophene/fullerene heterojunction, indicating that t-DMRG can be a promising method for full quantum dynamics simulation in large chemical systems. Moreover, it is also shown that the proper vibronic features in the ultrafast electronic process can be obtained by simulating the two-dimensional (2D) electronic spectrum by virtue of the high computational efficiency of the t-DMRG method.

  4. Spectral difference Lanczos method for efficient time propagation in quantum control theory

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Farnum, John D.; Mazziotti, David A.

    2004-04-01

    Spectral difference methods represent the real-space Hamiltonian of a quantum system as a banded matrix which possesses the accuracy of the discrete variable representation (DVR) and the efficiency of finite differences. When applied to time-dependent quantum mechanics, spectral differences enhance the efficiency of propagation methods for evolving the Schrödinger equation. We develop a spectral difference Lanczos method which is computationally more economical than the sinc-DVR Lanczos method, the split-operator technique, and even the fast-Fourier-Transform Lanczos method. Application of fast propagation is made to quantum control theory where chirped laser pulses are designed to dissociate both diatomic and polyatomic molecules. The specificity of the chirped laser fields is also tested as a possible method for molecular identification and discrimination.

  5. Quantum realization of the nearest neighbor value interpolation method for INEQR

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhou, RiGui; Hu, WenWen; Luo, GaoFeng; Liu, XingAo; Fan, Ping

    2018-07-01

    This paper presents the nearest neighbor value (NNV) interpolation algorithm for the improved novel enhanced quantum representation of digital images (INEQR). It is necessary to use interpolation in image scaling because there is an increase or a decrease in the number of pixels. The difference between the proposed scheme and nearest neighbor interpolation is that the concept applied, to estimate the missing pixel value, is guided by the nearest value rather than the distance. Firstly, a sequence of quantum operations is predefined, such as cyclic shift transformations and the basic arithmetic operations. Then, the feasibility of the nearest neighbor value interpolation method for quantum image of INEQR is proven using the previously designed quantum operations. Furthermore, quantum image scaling algorithm in the form of circuits of the NNV interpolation for INEQR is constructed for the first time. The merit of the proposed INEQR circuit lies in their low complexity, which is achieved by utilizing the unique properties of quantum superposition and entanglement. Finally, simulation-based experimental results involving different classical images and ratios (i.e., conventional or non-quantum) are simulated based on the classical computer's MATLAB 2014b software, which demonstrates that the proposed interpolation method has higher performances in terms of high resolution compared to the nearest neighbor and bilinear interpolation.

  6. Modeling the Gross-Pitaevskii Equation Using the Quantum Lattice Gas Method

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Oganesov, Armen

    We present an improved Quantum Lattice Gas (QLG) algorithm as a mesoscopic unitary perturbative representation of the mean field Gross Pitaevskii (GP) equation for Bose-Einstein Condensates (BECs). The method employs an interleaved sequence of unitary collide and stream operators. QLG is applicable to many different scalar potentials in the weak interaction regime and has been used to model the Korteweg-de Vries (KdV), Burgers and GP equations. It can be implemented on both quantum and classical computers and is extremely scalable. We present results for 1D soliton solutions with positive and negative internal interactions, as well as vector solitons with inelastic scattering. In higher dimensions we look at the behavior of vortex ring reconnection. A further improvement is considered with a proper operator splitting technique via a Fourier transformation. This is great for quantum computers since the quantum FFT is exponentially faster than its classical counterpart which involves non-local data on the entire lattice (Quantum FFT is the backbone of the Shor algorithm for quantum factorization). We also present an imaginary time method in which we transform the Schrodinger equation into a diffusion equation for recovering ground state initial conditions of a quantum system suitable for the QLG algorithm.

  7. Efficient hybrid-symbolic methods for quantum mechanical calculations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Scott, T. C.; Zhang, Wenxing

    2015-06-01

    We present hybrid symbolic-numerical tools to generate optimized numerical code for rapid prototyping and fast numerical computation starting from a computer algebra system (CAS) and tailored to any given quantum mechanical problem. Although a major focus concerns the quantum chemistry methods of H. Nakatsuji which has yielded successful and very accurate eigensolutions for small atoms and molecules, the tools are general and may be applied to any basis set calculation with a variational principle applied to its linear and non-linear parameters.

  8. Molecular structure, vibrational analysis (IR and Raman) and quantum chemical investigations of 1-aminoisoquinoline

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sivaprakash, S.; Prakash, S.; Mohan, S.; Jose, Sujin P.

    2017-12-01

    Quantum chemical calculations of energy and geometrical parameters of 1-aminoisoquinoline [1-AIQ] were carried out by using DFT/B3LYP method using 6-311G (d,p), 6-311G++(d,p) and cc-pVTZ basis sets. The vibrational wavenumbers were computed for the energetically most stable, optimized geometry. The vibrational assignments were performed on the basis of potential energy distribution (PED) using VEDA program. The NBO analysis was done to investigate the intra molecular charge transfer of the molecule. The frontier molecular orbital (FMO) analysis was carried out and the chemical reactivity descriptors of the molecule were studied. The Mulliken charge analysis, molecular electrostatic potential (MEP), HOMO-LUMO energy gap and the related properties were also investigated at B3LYP level. The absorption spectrum of the molecule was studied from UV-Visible analysis by using time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT). Fourier Transform Infrared spectrum (FT-IR) and Raman spectrum of 1-AIQ compound were analyzed and recorded in the range 4000-400 cm-1 and 3500-100 cm-1 respectively. The experimentally determined wavenumbers were compared with those calculated theoretically and they complement each other.

  9. Quantum cluster variational method and message passing algorithms revisited

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Domínguez, E.; Mulet, Roberto

    2018-02-01

    We present a general framework to study quantum disordered systems in the context of the Kikuchi's cluster variational method (CVM). The method relies in the solution of message passing-like equations for single instances or in the iterative solution of complex population dynamic algorithms for an average case scenario. We first show how a standard application of the Kikuchi's CVM can be easily translated to message passing equations for specific instances of the disordered system. We then present an "ad hoc" extension of these equations to a population dynamic algorithm representing an average case scenario. At the Bethe level, these equations are equivalent to the dynamic population equations that can be derived from a proper cavity ansatz. However, at the plaquette approximation, the interpretation is more subtle and we discuss it taking also into account previous results in classical disordered models. Moreover, we develop a formalism to properly deal with the average case scenario using a replica-symmetric ansatz within this CVM for quantum disordered systems. Finally, we present and discuss numerical solutions of the different approximations for the quantum transverse Ising model and the quantum random field Ising model in two-dimensional lattices.

  10. Ab initio quantum chemistry: methodology and applications.

    PubMed

    Friesner, Richard A

    2005-05-10

    This Perspective provides an overview of state-of-the-art ab initio quantum chemical methodology and applications. The methods that are discussed include coupled cluster theory, localized second-order Moller-Plesset perturbation theory, multireference perturbation approaches, and density functional theory. The accuracy of each approach for key chemical properties is summarized, and the computational performance is analyzed, emphasizing significant advances in algorithms and implementation over the past decade. Incorporation of a condensed-phase environment by means of mixed quantum mechanical/molecular mechanics or self-consistent reaction field techniques, is presented. A wide range of illustrative applications, focusing on materials science and biology, are discussed briefly.

  11. Quantum-chemical calculations and electron diffraction study of the equilibrium molecular structure of vitamin K3

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Khaikin, L. S.; Tikhonov, D. S.; Grikina, O. E.; Rykov, A. N.; Stepanov, N. F.

    2014-05-01

    The equilibrium molecular structure of 2-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone (vitamin K3) having C s symmetry is experimentally characterized for the first time by means of gas-phase electron diffraction using quantum-chemical calculations and data on the vibrational spectra of related compounds.

  12. Clinical Potential of Quantum Dots

    PubMed Central

    Iga, Arthur M.; Robertson, John H. P.; Winslet, Marc C.; Seifalian, Alexander M.

    2007-01-01

    Advances in nanotechnology have led to the development of novel fluorescent probes called quantum dots. Quantum dots have revolutionalized the processes of tagging molecules within research settings and are improving sentinel lymph node mapping and identification in vivo studies. As the unique physical and chemical properties of these fluorescent probes are being unraveled, new potential methods of early cancer detection, rapid spread and therapeutic management, that is, photodynamic therapy are being explored. Encouraging results of optical and real time identification of sentinel lymph nodes and lymph flow using quantum dots in vivo models are emerging. Quantum dots have also superseded many of the limitations of organic fluorophores and are a promising alternative as a research tool. In this review, we examine the promising clinical potential of quantum dots, their hindrances for clinical use and the current progress in abrogating their inherent toxicity. PMID:18317518

  13. Quantum cascade transmitters for ultrasensitive chemical agent and explosives detection

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Schultz, John F.; Taubman, Matthew S.; Harper, Warren W.; Williams, Richard M.; Myers, Tanya L.; Cannon, Bret D.; Sheen, David M.; Anheier, Norman C., Jr.; Allen, Paul J.; Sundaram, S. K.; Johnson, Bradley R.; Aker, Pamela M.; Wu, Ming C.; Lau, Erwin K.

    2003-07-01

    The small size, high power, promise of access to any wavelength between 3.5 and 16 microns, substantial tuning range about a chosen center wavelength, and general robustness of quantum cascade (QC) lasers provide opportunities for new approaches to ultra-sensitive chemical detection and other applications in the mid-wave infrared. PNNL is developing novel remote and sampling chemical sensing systems based on QC lasers, using QC lasers loaned by Lucent Technologies. In recent months laboratory cavity-enhanced sensing experiments have achieved absorption sensitivities of 8.5 x 10-11 cm-1 Hz-1/2, and the PNNL team has begun monostatic and bi-static frequency modulated, differential absorption lidar (FM DIAL) experiments at ranges of up to 2.5 kilometers. In related work, PNNL and UCLA are developing miniature QC laser transmitters with the multiplexed tunable wavelengths, frequency and amplitude stability, modulation characteristics, and power levels needed for chemical sensing and other applications. Current miniaturization concepts envision coupling QC oscillators, QC amplifiers, frequency references, and detectors with miniature waveguides and waveguide-based modulators, isolators, and other devices formed from chalcogenide or other types of glass. Significant progress has been made on QC laser stabilization and amplification, and on development and characterization of high-purity chalcogenide glasses, waveguide writing techniques, and waveguide metrology.

  14. Quantum Monte Carlo methods for nuclear physics

    DOE PAGES

    Carlson, Joseph A.; Gandolfi, Stefano; Pederiva, Francesco; ...

    2014-10-19

    Quantum Monte Carlo methods have proved very valuable to study the structure and reactions of light nuclei and nucleonic matter starting from realistic nuclear interactions and currents. These ab-initio calculations reproduce many low-lying states, moments and transitions in light nuclei, and simultaneously predict many properties of light nuclei and neutron matter over a rather wide range of energy and momenta. We review the nuclear interactions and currents, and describe the continuum Quantum Monte Carlo methods used in nuclear physics. These methods are similar to those used in condensed matter and electronic structure but naturally include spin-isospin, tensor, spin-orbit, and three-bodymore » interactions. We present a variety of results including the low-lying spectra of light nuclei, nuclear form factors, and transition matrix elements. We also describe low-energy scattering techniques, studies of the electroweak response of nuclei relevant in electron and neutrino scattering, and the properties of dense nucleonic matter as found in neutron stars. A coherent picture of nuclear structure and dynamics emerges based upon rather simple but realistic interactions and currents.« less

  15. DFT simulation, quantum chemical electronic structure, spectroscopic and structure-activity investigations of 2-benzothiazole acetonitrile.

    PubMed

    Arjunan, V; Thillai Govindaraja, S; Jose, Sujin P; Mohan, S

    2014-07-15

    The Fourier transform infrared and FT-Raman spectra of 2-benzothiazole acetonitrile (BTAN) have been recorded in the range 4000-450 and 4000-100 cm(-1) respectively. The conformational analysis of the compound has been carried out to obtain the stable geometry of the compound. The complete vibrational assignment and analysis of the fundamental modes of the compound are carried out using the experimental FTIR and FT-Raman data and quantum chemical studies. The experimental vibrational frequencies are compared with the wavenumbers derived theoretically by B3LYP gradient calculations employing the standard 6-31G(**), high level 6-311++G(**) and cc-pVTZ basis sets. The structural parameters, thermodynamic properties and vibrational frequencies of the normal modes obtained from the B3LYP methods are in good agreement with the experimental data. The (1)H (400 MHz; CDCl3) and (13)C (100 MHz;CDCl3) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra are also recorded. The electronic properties, the energies of the highest occupied and lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals are measured by DFT approach. The kinetic stability of the molecule has been determined from the frontier molecular orbital energy gap. The charges of the atoms and the structure-chemical reactivity relations of the compound are determined by its chemical potential, global hardness, global softness, electronegativity, electrophilicity and local reactivity descriptors by conceptual DFT methods. The non-linear optical properties of the compound have been discussed by measuring the polarisability and hyperpolarisability tensors. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. Quantum Chemical and Docking Insights into Bioavailability Enhancement of Curcumin by Piperine in Pepper.

    PubMed

    Patil, Vaishali M; Das, Sukanya; Balasubramanian, Krishnan

    2016-05-26

    We combine quantum chemical and molecular docking techniques to provide new insights into how piperine molecule in various forms of pepper enhances bioavailability of a number of drugs including curcumin in turmeric for which it increases its bioavailability by a 20-fold. We have carried out docking studies of quantum chemically optimized piperine structure binding to curcumin, CYP3A4 in cytochrome P450, p-Glycoprotein and UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT), the enzyme responsible for glucuronosylation, which increases the solubility of curcumin. All of these studies establish that piperine binds to multiple sites on the enzymes and also intercalates with curcumin forming a hydrogen bonded complex with curcumin. The conjugated network of double bonds and the presence of multiple charge centers of piperine offer optimal binding sites for piperine to bind to enzymes such as UDP-GDH, UGT, and CYP3A4. Piperine competes for curcumin's intermolecular hydrogen bonding and its stacking propensity by hydrogen bonding with enolic proton of curcumin. This facilitates its metabolic transport, thereby increasing its bioavailability both through intercalation into curcumin layers through intermolecular hydrogen bonding, and by inhibiting enzymes that cause glucuronosylation of curcumin.

  17. Method and apparatus for quantum information processing using entangled neutral-atom qubits

    DOEpatents

    Jau, Yuan Yu; Biedermann, Grant; Deutsch, Ivan

    2018-04-03

    A method for preparing an entangled quantum state of an atomic ensemble is provided. The method includes loading each atom of the atomic ensemble into a respective optical trap; placing each atom of the atomic ensemble into a same first atomic quantum state by impingement of pump radiation; approaching the atoms of the atomic ensemble to within a dipole-dipole interaction length of each other; Rydberg-dressing the atomic ensemble; during the Rydberg-dressing operation, exciting the atomic ensemble with a Raman pulse tuned to stimulate a ground-state hyperfine transition from the first atomic quantum state to a second atomic quantum state; and separating the atoms of the atomic ensemble by more than a dipole-dipole interaction length.

  18. Finding Chemical Reaction Paths with a Multilevel Preconditioning Protocol

    PubMed Central

    2015-01-01

    Finding transition paths for chemical reactions can be computationally costly owing to the level of quantum-chemical theory needed for accuracy. Here, we show that a multilevel preconditioning scheme that was recently introduced (Tempkin et al. J. Chem. Phys.2014, 140, 184114) can be used to accelerate quantum-chemical string calculations. We demonstrate the method by finding minimum-energy paths for two well-characterized reactions: tautomerization of malonaldehyde and Claissen rearrangement of chorismate to prephanate. For these reactions, we show that preconditioning density functional theory (DFT) with a semiempirical method reduces the computational cost for reaching a converged path that is an optimum under DFT by several fold. The approach also shows promise for free energy calculations when thermal noise can be controlled. PMID:25516726

  19. Quantum chemical study of the inhibition of the corrosion of mild steel in H2SO4 by some antibiotics.

    PubMed

    Eddy, Nnabuk O; Ibok, Udo J; Ebenso, Eno E; El Nemr, Ahmed; El Ashry, El Sayed H

    2009-09-01

    The inhibition efficiency of some antibiotics against mild steel corrosion was studied using weight loss and quantum chemical techniques. Values of inhibition efficiency obtained from weight loss measurements correlated strongly with theoretical values obtained through semi empirical calculations. High correlation coefficients were also obtained between inhibition efficiency of the antibiotics and some quantum chemical parameters, including frontier orbital (E (HOMO) and E (LUMO)), dipole moment, log P, TNC and LSER parameters (critical volume and dipolar-polarisability factor), which indicated that these parameters affect the inhibition efficiency of the compounds. It was also found that quantitative structure activity relation can be used to adequately predict the inhibition effectiveness of these compounds.

  20. Estimating system parameters for solvent-water and plant cuticle-water using quantum chemically estimated Abraham solute parameters.

    PubMed

    Liang, Yuzhen; Torralba-Sanchez, Tifany L; Di Toro, Dominic M

    2018-04-18

    Polyparameter Linear Free Energy Relationships (pp-LFERs) using Abraham system parameters have many useful applications. However, developing the Abraham system parameters depends on the availability and quality of the Abraham solute parameters. Using Quantum Chemically estimated Abraham solute Parameters (QCAP) is shown to produce pp-LFERs that have lower root mean square errors (RMSEs) of predictions for solvent-water partition coefficients than parameters that are estimated using other presently available methods. pp-LFERs system parameters are estimated for solvent-water, plant cuticle-water systems, and for novel compounds using QCAP solute parameters and experimental partition coefficients. Refitting the system parameter improves the calculation accuracy and eliminates the bias. Refitted models for solvent-water partition coefficients using QCAP solute parameters give better results (RMSE = 0.278 to 0.506 log units for 24 systems) than those based on ABSOLV (0.326 to 0.618) and QSPR (0.294 to 0.700) solute parameters. For munition constituents and munition-like compounds not included in the calibration of the refitted model, QCAP solute parameters produce pp-LFER models with much lower RMSEs for solvent-water partition coefficients (RMSE = 0.734 and 0.664 for original and refitted model, respectively) than ABSOLV (4.46 and 5.98) and QSPR (2.838 and 2.723). Refitting plant cuticle-water pp-LFER including munition constituents using QCAP solute parameters also results in lower RMSE (RMSE = 0.386) than that using ABSOLV (0.778) and QSPR (0.512) solute parameters. Therefore, for fitting a model in situations for which experimental data exist and system parameters can be re-estimated, or for which system parameters do not exist and need to be developed, QCAP is the quantum chemical method of choice.

  1. An adaptive quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics method for the infrared spectrum of water: incorporation of the quantum effect between solute and solvent.

    PubMed

    Watanabe, Hiroshi C; Banno, Misa; Sakurai, Minoru

    2016-03-14

    Quantum effects in solute-solvent interactions, such as the many-body effect and the dipole-induced dipole, are known to be critical factors influencing the infrared spectra of species in the liquid phase. For accurate spectrum evaluation, the surrounding solvent molecules, in addition to the solute of interest, should be treated using a quantum mechanical method. However, conventional quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) methods cannot handle free QM solvent molecules during molecular dynamics (MD) simulation because of the diffusion problem. To deal with this problem, we have previously proposed an adaptive QM/MM "size-consistent multipartitioning (SCMP) method". In the present study, as the first application of the SCMP method, we demonstrate the reproduction of the infrared spectrum of liquid-phase water, and evaluate the quantum effect in comparison with conventional QM/MM simulations.

  2. Quantum Chemical Modeling of Enzymatic Reactions: The Case of Decarboxylation.

    PubMed

    Liao, Rong-Zhen; Yu, Jian-Guo; Himo, Fahmi

    2011-05-10

    We present a systematic study of the decarboxylation step of the enzyme aspartate decarboxylase with the purpose of assessing the quantum chemical cluster approach for modeling this important class of decarboxylase enzymes. Active site models ranging in size from 27 to 220 atoms are designed, and the barrier and reaction energy of this step are evaluated. To model the enzyme surrounding, homogeneous polarizable medium techniques are used with several dielectric constants. The main conclusion is that when the active site model reaches a certain size, the solvation effects from the surroundings saturate. Similar results have previously been obtained from systematic studies of other classes of enzymes, suggesting that they are of a quite general nature.

  3. Graphene-based quantum Hall resistance standards grown by chemical vapor deposition on silicon carbide

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ribeiro-Palau, Rebeca; Lafont, Fabien; Kazazis, Dimitris; Michon, Adrien; Couturaud, Olivier; Consejo, Christophe; Jouault, Benoit; Poirier, Wilfrid; Schopfer, Felicien

    2015-03-01

    Replace GaAs-based quantum Hall resistance standards (GaAs-QHRS) by a more convenient one, based on graphene (Gr-QHRS), is an ongoing goal in metrology. The new Gr-QHRS are expected to work in less demanding experimental conditions than GaAs ones. It will open the way to a broad dissemination of quantum standards, potentially towards industrial end-users, and it will support the implementation of a new International System of Units based on fixed fundamental constants. Here, we present accurate quantum Hall resistance measurements in large graphene Hall bars, grown by the hybrid scalable technique of propane/hydrogen chemical vapor deposition (CVD) on silicon carbide (SiC). This new Gr-QHRS shows a relative accuracy of 1 ×10-9 of the Hall resistance under the lowest magnetic field ever achieved in graphene. These experimental conditions surpass those of the most wildely used GaAs-QHRS. These results confirm the promises of graphene for resistance metrology applications and emphasizes the quality of the graphene produced by the CVD on SiC for applications as demanding as the resistance metrology.

  4. Molecular Studies of Complex Soil Organic Matter Interactions with Metal Ions and Mineral Surfaces using Classical Molecular Dynamics and Quantum Chemistry Methods

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Andersen, A.; Govind, N.; Laskin, A.

    2017-12-01

    Mineral surfaces have been implicated as potential protectors of soil organic matter (SOM) against decomposition and ultimate mineralization to small molecules which can provide nutrients for plants and soil microbes and can also contribute to the Earth's elemental cycles. SOM is a complex mixture of organic molecules of biological origin at varying degrees of decomposition and can, itself, self-assemble in such a way as to expose some biomolecule types to biotic and abiotic attack while protecting other biomolecule types. The organization of SOM and SOM with mineral surfaces and solvated metal ions is driven by an interplay of van der Waals and electrostatic interactions leading to partitioning of hydrophilic (e.g. sugars) and hydrophobic (e.g., lipids) SOM components that can be bridged with amphiphilic molecules (e.g., proteins). Classical molecular dynamics simulations can shed light on assemblies of organic molecules alone or complexation with mineral surfaces. The role of chemical reactions is also an important consideration in potential chemical changes of the organic species such as oxidation/reduction, degradation, chemisorption to mineral surfaces, and complexation with solvated metal ions to form organometallic systems. For the study of chemical reactivity, quantum chemistry methods can be employed and combined with structural insight provided by classical MD simulations. Moreover, quantum chemistry can also simulate spectroscopic signatures based on chemical structure and is a valuable tool in interpreting spectra from, notably, x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). In this presentation, we will discuss our classical MD and quantum chemistry findings on a model SOM system interacting with mineral surfaces and solvated metal ions.

  5. SAM Chemical Methods Query

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    Laboratories measuring target chemical, radiochemical, pathogens, and biotoxin analytes in environmental samples can use this online query tool to identify analytical methods in EPA's Selected Analytical Methods for Environmental Remediation and Recovery

  6. Detailed solvent, structural, quantum chemical study and antimicrobial activity of isatin Schiff base

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Brkić, Dominik R.; Božić, Aleksandra R.; Marinković, Aleksandar D.; Milčić, Miloš K.; Prlainović, Nevena Ž.; Assaleh, Fathi H.; Cvijetić, Ilija N.; Nikolić, Jasmina B.; Drmanić, Saša Ž.

    2018-05-01

    The ratios of E/Z isomers of sixteen synthesized 1,3-dihydro-3-(substituted phenylimino)-2H-indol-2-one were studied using experimental and theoretical methodology. Linear solvation energy relationships (LSER) rationalized solvent influence of the solvent-solute interactions on the UV-Vis absorption maxima shifts (νmax) of both geometrical isomers using the Kamlet-Taft equation. Linear free energy relationships (LFER) in the form of single substituent parameter equation (SSP) was used to analyze substituent effect on pKa, NMR chemical shifts and νmax values. Electron charge density was obtained by the use of Quantum Theory of Atoms in Molecules, i.e. Bader's analysis. The substituent and solvent effect on intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) were interpreted with the aid of time-dependent density functional (TD-DFT) method. Additionally, the results of TD-DFT calculations quantified the efficiency of ICT from the calculated charge-transfer distance (DCT) and amount of transferred charge (QCT). The antimicrobial activity was evaluated using broth microdilution method. 3D QSAR modeling was used to demonstrate the influence of substituents effect as well as molecule geometry on antimicrobial activity.

  7. Quantum chemical modeling of enzymatic reactions: the case of histone lysine methyltransferase.

    PubMed

    Georgieva, Polina; Himo, Fahmi

    2010-06-01

    Quantum chemical cluster models of enzyme active sites are today an important and powerful tool in the study of various aspects of enzymatic reactivity. This methodology has been applied to a wide spectrum of reactions and many important mechanistic problems have been solved. Herein, we report a systematic study of the reaction mechanism of the histone lysine methyltransferase (HKMT) SET7/9 enzyme, which catalyzes the methylation of the N-terminal histone tail of the chromatin structure. In this study, HKMT SET7/9 serves as a representative case to examine the modeling approach for the important class of methyl transfer enzymes. Active site models of different sizes are used to evaluate the methodology. In particular, the dependence of the calculated energies on the model size, the influence of the dielectric medium, and the particular choice of the dielectric constant are discussed. In addition, we examine the validity of some technical aspects, such as geometry optimization in solvent or with a large basis set, and the use of different density functional methods. Copyright 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  8. Interaction of surface hydroxyls with adsorbed molecules. A quantum-chemical study

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Geerlings, P.; Tariel, N.; Botrel, A.

    1984-11-08

    A study has been conducted to explain the interaction mechanisms of (bridging and terminal) surface hydroxyl groups with molecules, using ab initio, EHT, and CNDO/2-FA quantum-chemical calculations. Bond strength variations and charge shifts were found to be in complete agreement with Gutmann's rules, and provide a basis for the understanding of the Bronsted acid properties of zeolites and amorphous silica-alumina. A quantitative measure of the interaction strength is possible by referring to the experimentally determined donor number (Gutmann) following many molecules, but care should be taken for those molecules for which the donor strength was determined by indirect methods. Onlymore » a few exceptions to Gutmann's rules should exist, e.g., in those cases where the atom interacting with the proton is not the most electronegative of the donor molecule (such as for CO). Individual bonds in a given complex are more susceptible to perturbations (changes in composition and interactions with adsorbing molecules) if the coordination number increases. These rules are in agreement with the observations and apply to all reactions (inter- or intramolecular) involving a change in coordination. 52 references, 6 figures, 4 tables.« less

  9. Spectral analysis and quantum chemical studies of chair and twist-boat conformers of cycloheximide in gas and solution phases

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tokatli, A.; Ucun, F.; Sütçü, K.; Osmanoğlu, Y. E.; Osmanoğlu, Ş.

    2018-02-01

    In this study the conformational behavior of cycloheximide in the gas and solution (CHCl3) phases has theoretically been investigated by spectroscopic and quantum chemical properties using density functional theory (wB97X-D) method with 6-31++G(d,p) basis set, for the first time. The calculated IR results reveal that in the ground state the molecule exits as a mixture of the chair and twist-boat conformers in the gas phase, while the calculated NMR results reveal that it only exits as the chair conformer in the solution phase. In order to obtain the contributions coming from intramolecular interactions to the stability of the conformers in the gas and solution phases, the quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIM), noncovalent interactions (NCI) method, and natural bond orbital analysis (NBO) have been employed. The QTAIM and NCI methods indicated that by intramolecular interactions with bond critical point (BCP) the twist-boat conformer is more stabilized than the chair conformer, while by steric interactions it is more destabilized. Considering that these interactions balance each other, the stabilities of the conformers are understood to be dictated by the van der Waals interactions. The NBO analyses show that the hyperconjugative and steric effects play an important role in the stabilization in the gas and solution phases. Furthermore, to get a better understanding of the chemical behavior of this important antibiotic drug we have evaluated and, commented the global and local reactivity descriptors of the both conformers. Finally, the EPR analysis of γ-irradiated cycloheximide has been done. The comparison of the experimental and calculated data have showed the inducement of a radical structure of (CH2)2ĊCH2 in the molecule. The experimental EPR spectrum has also confirmed that the molecule simultaneously exists in the chair and twist-boat conformers in the solid phase.

  10. Quantum chemical calculation of the equilibrium structures of small metal atom clusters

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kahn, L. R.

    1982-01-01

    Metal atom clusters are studied based on the application of ab initio quantum mechanical approaches. Because these large 'molecular' systems pose special practical computational problems in the application of the quantum mechanical methods, there is a special need to find simplifying techniques that do not compromise the reliability of the calculations. Research is therefore directed towards various aspects of the implementation of the effective core potential technique for the removal of the metal atom core electrons from the calculations.

  11. Experimental and quantum-chemical studies on the three-particle fragmentation of neutral triatomic hydrogen

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Galster, Ulrich; Baumgartner, Frank; Mueller, Ulrich

    2005-12-15

    Dissociation of well-defined H{sub 3} Rydberg states into three ground state hydrogen atoms reveals characteristic correlation patterns in the center-of-mass motion of the three fragments. We present an extensive experimental dataset of momentum correlation maps for all lower Rydberg states of H{sub 3} and D{sub 3}. In particular the states with principal quantum number n=2 feature simple correlation patterns with regular occurence of mutual affinities. Energetically higher-lying states typically show more complex patterns which are unique for each state. Quantum-chemical calculations on adiabatic potential energy surfaces of H{sub 3} Rydberg states are presented to illuminate the likely origin of thesemore » differences. We discuss the likely dissociation mechanisms and paths which are responsible for the observed continuum correlation.« less

  12. Quantum Monte Carlo methods for nuclear physics

    DOE PAGES

    Carlson, J.; Gandolfi, S.; Pederiva, F.; ...

    2015-09-09

    Quantum Monte Carlo methods have proved valuable to study the structure and reactions of light nuclei and nucleonic matter starting from realistic nuclear interactions and currents. These ab-initio calculations reproduce many low-lying states, moments, and transitions in light nuclei, and simultaneously predict many properties of light nuclei and neutron matter over a rather wide range of energy and momenta. The nuclear interactions and currents are reviewed along with a description of the continuum quantum Monte Carlo methods used in nuclear physics. These methods are similar to those used in condensed matter and electronic structure but naturally include spin-isospin, tensor, spin-orbit,more » and three-body interactions. A variety of results are presented, including the low-lying spectra of light nuclei, nuclear form factors, and transition matrix elements. Low-energy scattering techniques, studies of the electroweak response of nuclei relevant in electron and neutrino scattering, and the properties of dense nucleonic matter as found in neutron stars are also described. Furthermore, a coherent picture of nuclear structure and dynamics emerges based upon rather simple but realistic interactions and currents.« less

  13. Electrostatic thin film chemical and biological sensor

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Prelas, Mark A.; Ghosh, Tushar K.; Tompson, Jr., Robert V.

    A chemical and biological agent sensor includes an electrostatic thin film supported by a substrate. The film includes an electrostatic charged surface to attract predetermined biological and chemical agents of interest. A charge collector associated with said electrostatic thin film collects charge associated with surface defects in the electrostatic film induced by the predetermined biological and chemical agents of interest. A preferred sensing system includes a charge based deep level transient spectroscopy system to read out charges from the film and match responses to data sets regarding the agents of interest. A method for sensing biological and chemical agents includesmore » providing a thin sensing film having a predetermined electrostatic charge. The film is exposed to an environment suspected of containing the biological and chemical agents. Quantum surface effects on the film are measured. Biological and/or chemical agents can be detected, identified and quantified based on the measured quantum surface effects.« less

  14. Free-energy landscapes from adaptively biased methods: Application to quantum systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Calvo, F.

    2010-10-01

    Several parallel adaptive biasing methods are applied to the calculation of free-energy pathways along reaction coordinates, choosing as a difficult example the double-funnel landscape of the 38-atom Lennard-Jones cluster. In the case of classical statistics, the Wang-Landau and adaptively biased molecular-dynamics (ABMD) methods are both found efficient if multiple walkers and replication and deletion schemes are used. An extension of the ABMD technique to quantum systems, implemented through the path-integral MD framework, is presented and tested on Ne38 against the quantum superposition method.

  15. A novel quantum LSB-based steganography method using the Gray code for colored quantum images

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Heidari, Shahrokh; Farzadnia, Ehsan

    2017-10-01

    As one of the prevalent data-hiding techniques, steganography is defined as the act of concealing secret information in a cover multimedia encompassing text, image, video and audio, imperceptibly, in order to perform interaction between the sender and the receiver in which nobody except the receiver can figure out the secret data. In this approach a quantum LSB-based steganography method utilizing the Gray code for quantum RGB images is investigated. This method uses the Gray code to accommodate two secret qubits in 3 LSBs of each pixel simultaneously according to reference tables. Experimental consequences which are analyzed in MATLAB environment, exhibit that the present schema shows good performance and also it is more secure and applicable than the previous one currently found in the literature.

  16. Quantum chemical determination of young?s modulus of lignin. Calculations on ß-O-4' model compound

    Treesearch

    Thomas Elder

    2007-01-01

    The calculation of Young?s modulus of lignin has been examined by subjecting a dimeric model compound to strain, coupled with the determination of energy and stress. The computational results, derived from quantum chemical calculations, are in agreement with available experimental results. Changes in geometry indicate that modifications in dihedral angles occur in...

  17. Finding Chemical Reaction Paths with a Multilevel Preconditioning Protocol

    DOE PAGES

    Kale, Seyit; Sode, Olaseni; Weare, Jonathan; ...

    2014-11-07

    Finding transition paths for chemical reactions can be computationally costly owing to the level of quantum-chemical theory needed for accuracy. Here, we show that a multilevel preconditioning scheme that was recently introduced (Tempkin et al. J. Chem. Phys. 2014, 140, 184114) can be used to accelerate quantum-chemical string calculations. We demonstrate the method by finding minimum-energy paths for two well-characterized reactions: tautomerization of malonaldehyde and Claissen rearrangement of chorismate to prephanate. For these reactions, we show that preconditioning density functional theory (DFT) with a semiempirical method reduces the computational cost for reaching a converged path that is an optimum undermore » DFT by several fold. In conclusion, the approach also shows promise for free energy calculations when thermal noise can be controlled.« less

  18. Qualitative methods in quantum theory

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Migdal, A.B.

    The author feels that the solution of most problems in theoretical physics begins with the application of qualitative methods - dimensional estimates and estimates made from simple models, the investigation of limiting cases, the use of the analytic properties of physical quantities, etc. This book proceeds in this spirit, rather than in a formal, mathematical way with no traces of the sweat involved in the original work left to show. The chapters are entitled Dimensional and model approximations, Various types of perturbation theory, The quasi-classical approximation, Analytic properties of physical quantities, Methods in the many-body problem, and Qualitative methods inmore » quantum field theory. Each chapter begins with a detailed introduction, in which the physical meaning of the results obtained in that chapter is explained in a simple way. 61 figures. (RWR)« less

  19. Synthesis of copper quantum dots by chemical reduction method and tailoring of its band gap

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Prabhash, P. G.; Nair, Swapna S., E-mail: swapna.s.nair@gmail.com

    Metallic copper nano particles are synthesized with citric acid and CTAB (cetyltrimethylammonium bromide) as surfactant and chlorides as precursors. The particle size and surface morphology are analyzed by High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy. The average size of the nano particle is found to be 3 - 10 nm. The optical absorption characteristics are done by UV-Visible spectrophotometer. From the Tauc plots, the energy band gaps are calculated and because of their smaller size the particles have much higher band gap than the bulk material. The energy band gap is changed from 3.67 eV to 4.27 eV in citric acid coatedmore » copper quantum dots and 4.17 eV to 4.52 eV in CTAB coated copper quantum dots.« less

  20. Quantum ring-polymer contraction method: Including nuclear quantum effects at no additional computational cost in comparison to ab initio molecular dynamics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    John, Christopher; Spura, Thomas; Habershon, Scott; Kühne, Thomas D.

    2016-04-01

    We present a simple and accurate computational method which facilitates ab initio path-integral molecular dynamics simulations, where the quantum-mechanical nature of the nuclei is explicitly taken into account, at essentially no additional computational cost in comparison to the corresponding calculation using classical nuclei. The predictive power of the proposed quantum ring-polymer contraction method is demonstrated by computing various static and dynamic properties of liquid water at ambient conditions using density functional theory. This development will enable routine inclusion of nuclear quantum effects in ab initio molecular dynamics simulations of condensed-phase systems.

  1. Apparatus and methods for detecting chemical permeation

    DOEpatents

    Vo-Dinh, Tuan

    1994-01-01

    Apparatus and methods for detecting the permeation of hazardous or toxic chemicals through protective clothing are disclosed. The hazardous or toxic chemicals of interest do not possess the spectral characteristic of luminescence. The apparatus and methods utilize a spectrochemical modification technique to detect the luminescence quenching of an indicator compound which upon permeation of the chemical through the protective clothing, the indicator is exposed to the chemical, thus indicating chemical permeation.

  2. Solving the scalability issue in quantum-based refinement: Q|R#1.

    PubMed

    Zheng, Min; Moriarty, Nigel W; Xu, Yanting; Reimers, Jeffrey R; Afonine, Pavel V; Waller, Mark P

    2017-12-01

    Accurately refining biomacromolecules using a quantum-chemical method is challenging because the cost of a quantum-chemical calculation scales approximately as n m , where n is the number of atoms and m (≥3) is based on the quantum method of choice. This fundamental problem means that quantum-chemical calculations become intractable when the size of the system requires more computational resources than are available. In the development of the software package called Q|R, this issue is referred to as Q|R#1. A divide-and-conquer approach has been developed that fragments the atomic model into small manageable pieces in order to solve Q|R#1. Firstly, the atomic model of a crystal structure is analyzed to detect noncovalent interactions between residues, and the results of the analysis are represented as an interaction graph. Secondly, a graph-clustering algorithm is used to partition the interaction graph into a set of clusters in such a way as to minimize disruption to the noncovalent interaction network. Thirdly, the environment surrounding each individual cluster is analyzed and any residue that is interacting with a particular cluster is assigned to the buffer region of that particular cluster. A fragment is defined as a cluster plus its buffer region. The gradients for all atoms from each of the fragments are computed, and only the gradients from each cluster are combined to create the total gradients. A quantum-based refinement is carried out using the total gradients as chemical restraints. In order to validate this interaction graph-based fragmentation approach in Q|R, the entire atomic model of an amyloid cross-β spine crystal structure (PDB entry 2oNA) was refined.

  3. Using of Quantum Dots in Biology and Medicine.

    PubMed

    Pleskova, Svetlana; Mikheeva, Elza; Gornostaeva, Ekaterina

    2018-01-01

    Quantum dots are nanoparticles, which due to their unique physical and chemical (first of all optical) properties, are promising in biology and medicine. There are many ways for quantum dots synthesis, both in the form of nanoislands self-forming on the surfaces, which can be used as single-photon emitters in electronics for storing information, and in the form of colloidal quantum dots for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes in living systems. The paper describes the main methods of quantum dots synthesis and summarizes medical and biological ways of their use. The main emphasis is laid on the ways of quantum dots surface modification. Influence of the size and form of nanoparticles, charge on the surfaces of quantum dots, and cover type on the efficiency of internalization by cells and cell compartments is shown. The main mechanisms of penetration are considered.

  4. Quantum transport under ac drive from the leads: A Redfield quantum master equation approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Purkayastha, Archak; Dubi, Yonatan

    2017-08-01

    Evaluating the time-dependent dynamics of driven open quantum systems is relevant for a theoretical description of many systems, including molecular junctions, quantum dots, cavity-QED experiments, cold atoms experiments, and more. Here, we formulate a rigorous microscopic theory of an out-of-equilibrium open quantum system of noninteracting particles on a lattice weakly coupled bilinearly to multiple baths and driven by periodically varying thermodynamic parameters like temperature and chemical potential of the bath. The particles can be either bosonic or fermionic and the lattice can be of any dimension and geometry. Based on the Redfield quantum master equation under Born-Markov approximation, we derive a linear differential equation for an equal time two point correlation matrix, sometimes also called a single-particle density matrix, from which various physical observables, for example, current, can be calculated. Various interesting physical effects, such as resonance, can be directly read off from the equations. Thus, our theory is quite general and gives quite transparent and easy-to-calculate results. We validate our theory by comparing with exact numerical simulations. We apply our method to a generic open quantum system, namely, a double quantum dot coupled to leads with modulating chemical potentials. The two most important experimentally relevant insights from this are as follows: (i) Time-dependent measurements of current for symmetric oscillating voltages (with zero instantaneous voltage bias) can point to the degree of asymmetry in the system-bath coupling and (ii) under certain conditions time-dependent currents can exceed time-averaged currents by several orders of magnitude, and can therefore be detected even when the average current is below the measurement threshold.

  5. Quantum chemistry simulation on quantum computers: theories and experiments.

    PubMed

    Lu, Dawei; Xu, Boruo; Xu, Nanyang; Li, Zhaokai; Chen, Hongwei; Peng, Xinhua; Xu, Ruixue; Du, Jiangfeng

    2012-07-14

    It has been claimed that quantum computers can mimic quantum systems efficiently in the polynomial scale. Traditionally, those simulations are carried out numerically on classical computers, which are inevitably confronted with the exponential growth of required resources, with the increasing size of quantum systems. Quantum computers avoid this problem, and thus provide a possible solution for large quantum systems. In this paper, we first discuss the ideas of quantum simulation, the background of quantum simulators, their categories, and the development in both theories and experiments. We then present a brief introduction to quantum chemistry evaluated via classical computers followed by typical procedures of quantum simulation towards quantum chemistry. Reviewed are not only theoretical proposals but also proof-of-principle experimental implementations, via a small quantum computer, which include the evaluation of the static molecular eigenenergy and the simulation of chemical reaction dynamics. Although the experimental development is still behind the theory, we give prospects and suggestions for future experiments. We anticipate that in the near future quantum simulation will become a powerful tool for quantum chemistry over classical computations.

  6. Method of producing a chemical hydride

    DOEpatents

    Klingler, Kerry M.; Zollinger, William T.; Wilding, Bruce M.; Bingham, Dennis N.; Wendt, Kraig M.

    2007-11-13

    A method of producing a chemical hydride is described and which includes selecting a composition having chemical bonds and which is capable of forming a chemical hydride; providing a source of a hydrocarbon; and reacting the composition with the source of the hydrocarbon to generate a chemical hydride.

  7. Study of CdTe quantum dots grown using a two-step annealing method

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sharma, Kriti; Pandey, Praveen K.; Nagpal, Swati; Bhatnagar, P. K.; Mathur, P. C.

    2006-02-01

    High size dispersion, large average radius of quantum dot and low-volume ratio has been a major hurdle in the development of quantum dot based devices. In the present paper, we have grown CdTe quantum dots in a borosilicate glass matrix using a two-step annealing method. Results of optical characterization and the theoretical model of absorption spectra have shown that quantum dots grown using two-step annealing have lower average radius, lesser size dispersion, higher volume ratio and higher decrease in bulk free energy as compared to quantum dots grown conventionally.

  8. Quantum Monte Carlo Methods for First Principles Simulation of Liquid Water

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gergely, John Robert

    2009-01-01

    Obtaining an accurate microscopic description of water structure and dynamics is of great interest to molecular biology researchers and in the physics and quantum chemistry simulation communities. This dissertation describes efforts to apply quantum Monte Carlo methods to this problem with the goal of making progress toward a fully "ab initio"…

  9. A Synthetic Approach to the Transfer Matrix Method in Classical and Quantum Physics

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pujol, O.; Perez, J. P.

    2007-01-01

    The aim of this paper is to propose a synthetic approach to the transfer matrix method in classical and quantum physics. This method is an efficient tool to deal with complicated physical systems of practical importance in geometrical light or charged particle optics, classical electronics, mechanics, electromagnetics and quantum physics. Teaching…

  10. First-principles quantum transport method for disordered nanoelectronics: Disorder-averaged transmission, shot noise, and device-to-device variability

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yan, Jiawei; Wang, Shizhuo; Xia, Ke; Ke, Youqi

    2017-03-01

    Because disorders are inevitable in realistic nanodevices, the capability to quantitatively simulate the disorder effects on electron transport is indispensable for quantum transport theory. Here, we report a unified and effective first-principles quantum transport method for analyzing effects of chemical or substitutional disorder on transport properties of nanoelectronics, including averaged transmission coefficient, shot noise, and disorder-induced device-to-device variability. All our theoretical formulations and numerical implementations are worked out within the framework of the tight-binding linear muffin tin orbital method. In this method, we carry out the electronic structure calculation with the density functional theory, treat the nonequilibrium statistics by the nonequilbrium Green's function method, and include the effects of multiple impurity scattering with the generalized nonequilibrium vertex correction (NVC) method in coherent potential approximation (CPA). The generalized NVC equations are solved from first principles to obtain various disorder-averaged two-Green's-function correlators. This method provides a unified way to obtain different disorder-averaged transport properties of disordered nanoelectronics from first principles. To test our implementation, we apply the method to investigate the shot noise in the disordered copper conductor, and find all our results for different disorder concentrations approach a universal Fano factor 1 /3 . As the second test, we calculate the device-to-device variability in the spin-dependent transport through the disordered Cu/Co interface and find the conductance fluctuation is very large in the minority spin channel and negligible in the majority spin channel. Our results agree well with experimental measurements and other theories. In both applications, we show the generalized nonequilibrium vertex corrections play a determinant role in electron transport simulation. Our results demonstrate the

  11. Method of forming a chemical composition

    DOEpatents

    Bingham, Dennis N.; Wilding, Bruce M.; Klingler, Kerry M.; Zollinger, William T.; Wendt, Kraig M.

    2007-10-09

    A method of forming a chemical composition such as a chemical hydride is described and which includes the steps of selecting a composition having chemical bonds and which is capable of forming a chemical hydride; providing a source of hydrogen; and exposing the selected composition to an amount of ionizing radiation to encourage the changing of the chemical bonds of the selected composition, and chemically reacting the selected composition with the source of hydrogen to facilitate the formation of a chemical hydride.

  12. Quantum kernel applications in medicinal chemistry.

    PubMed

    Huang, Lulu; Massa, Lou

    2012-07-01

    Progress in the quantum mechanics of biological molecules is being driven by computational advances. The notion of quantum kernels can be introduced to simplify the formalism of quantum mechanics, making it especially suitable for parallel computation of very large biological molecules. The essential idea is to mathematically break large biological molecules into smaller kernels that are calculationally tractable, and then to represent the full molecule by a summation over the kernels. The accuracy of the kernel energy method (KEM) is shown by systematic application to a great variety of molecular types found in biology. These include peptides, proteins, DNA and RNA. Examples are given that explore the KEM across a variety of chemical models, and to the outer limits of energy accuracy and molecular size. KEM represents an advance in quantum biology applicable to problems in medicine and drug design.

  13. The Bravyi-Kitaev transformation for quantum computation of electronic structure

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Seeley, Jacob T.; Richard, Martin J.; Love, Peter J.

    2012-12-01

    Quantum simulation is an important application of future quantum computers with applications in quantum chemistry, condensed matter, and beyond. Quantum simulation of fermionic systems presents a specific challenge. The Jordan-Wigner transformation allows for representation of a fermionic operator by O(n) qubit operations. Here, we develop an alternative method of simulating fermions with qubits, first proposed by Bravyi and Kitaev [Ann. Phys. 298, 210 (2002), 10.1006/aphy.2002.6254; e-print arXiv:quant-ph/0003137v2], that reduces the simulation cost to O(log n) qubit operations for one fermionic operation. We apply this new Bravyi-Kitaev transformation to the task of simulating quantum chemical Hamiltonians, and give a detailed example for the simplest possible case of molecular hydrogen in a minimal basis. We show that the quantum circuit for simulating a single Trotter time step of the Bravyi-Kitaev derived Hamiltonian for H2 requires fewer gate applications than the equivalent circuit derived from the Jordan-Wigner transformation. Since the scaling of the Bravyi-Kitaev method is asymptotically better than the Jordan-Wigner method, this result for molecular hydrogen in a minimal basis demonstrates the superior efficiency of the Bravyi-Kitaev method for all quantum computations of electronic structure.

  14. Quantum chemical study of the mechanism of action of vitamin K epoxide reductase (VKOR)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Deerfield, David, II; Davis, Charles H.; Wymore, Troy; Stafford, Darrel W.; Pedersen, Lee G.

    Possible model, but simplistic, mechanisms for the action of vitamin K epoxide reductase (VKOR) are investigated with quantum mechanical methods (B3LYP/6-311G**). The geometries of proposed model intermediates in the mechanisms are energy optimized. Finally, the energetics of the proposed (pseudo-enzymatic) pathways are compared. We find that the several pathways are all energetically feasible. These results will be useful for designing quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical method (QM/MM) studies of the enzymatic pathway once three-dimensional structural data are determined and available for VKOR.

  15. Computation of the asymptotic states of modulated open quantum systems with a numerically exact realization of the quantum trajectory method

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Volokitin, V.; Liniov, A.; Meyerov, I.; Hartmann, M.; Ivanchenko, M.; Hänggi, P.; Denisov, S.

    2017-11-01

    Quantum systems out of equilibrium are presently a subject of active research, both in theoretical and experimental domains. In this work, we consider time-periodically modulated quantum systems that are in contact with a stationary environment. Within the framework of a quantum master equation, the asymptotic states of such systems are described by time-periodic density operators. Resolution of these operators constitutes a nontrivial computational task. Approaches based on spectral and iterative methods are restricted to systems with the dimension of the hosting Hilbert space dim H =N ≲300 , while the direct long-time numerical integration of the master equation becomes increasingly problematic for N ≳400 , especially when the coupling to the environment is weak. To go beyond this limit, we use the quantum trajectory method, which unravels the master equation for the density operator into a set of stochastic processes for wave functions. The asymptotic density matrix is calculated by performing a statistical sampling over the ensemble of quantum trajectories, preceded by a long transient propagation. We follow the ideology of event-driven programming and construct a new algorithmic realization of the method. The algorithm is computationally efficient, allowing for long "leaps" forward in time. It is also numerically exact, in the sense that, being given the list of uniformly distributed (on the unit interval) random numbers, {η1,η2,...,ηn} , one could propagate a quantum trajectory (with ηi's as norm thresholds) in a numerically exact way. By using a scalable N -particle quantum model, we demonstrate that the algorithm allows us to resolve the asymptotic density operator of the model system with N =2000 states on a regular-size computer cluster, thus reaching the scale on which numerical studies of modulated Hamiltonian systems are currently performed.

  16. Computation of the asymptotic states of modulated open quantum systems with a numerically exact realization of the quantum trajectory method.

    PubMed

    Volokitin, V; Liniov, A; Meyerov, I; Hartmann, M; Ivanchenko, M; Hänggi, P; Denisov, S

    2017-11-01

    Quantum systems out of equilibrium are presently a subject of active research, both in theoretical and experimental domains. In this work, we consider time-periodically modulated quantum systems that are in contact with a stationary environment. Within the framework of a quantum master equation, the asymptotic states of such systems are described by time-periodic density operators. Resolution of these operators constitutes a nontrivial computational task. Approaches based on spectral and iterative methods are restricted to systems with the dimension of the hosting Hilbert space dimH=N≲300, while the direct long-time numerical integration of the master equation becomes increasingly problematic for N≳400, especially when the coupling to the environment is weak. To go beyond this limit, we use the quantum trajectory method, which unravels the master equation for the density operator into a set of stochastic processes for wave functions. The asymptotic density matrix is calculated by performing a statistical sampling over the ensemble of quantum trajectories, preceded by a long transient propagation. We follow the ideology of event-driven programming and construct a new algorithmic realization of the method. The algorithm is computationally efficient, allowing for long "leaps" forward in time. It is also numerically exact, in the sense that, being given the list of uniformly distributed (on the unit interval) random numbers, {η_{1},η_{2},...,η_{n}}, one could propagate a quantum trajectory (with η_{i}'s as norm thresholds) in a numerically exact way. By using a scalable N-particle quantum model, we demonstrate that the algorithm allows us to resolve the asymptotic density operator of the model system with N=2000 states on a regular-size computer cluster, thus reaching the scale on which numerical studies of modulated Hamiltonian systems are currently performed.

  17. Chemical Shifts of the Carbohydrate Binding Domain of Galectin-3 from Magic Angle Spinning NMR and Hybrid Quantum Mechanics/Molecular Mechanics Calculations.

    PubMed

    Kraus, Jodi; Gupta, Rupal; Yehl, Jenna; Lu, Manman; Case, David A; Gronenborn, Angela M; Akke, Mikael; Polenova, Tatyana

    2018-03-22

    Magic angle spinning NMR spectroscopy is uniquely suited to probe the structure and dynamics of insoluble proteins and protein assemblies at atomic resolution, with NMR chemical shifts containing rich information about biomolecular structure. Access to this information, however, is problematic, since accurate quantum mechanical calculation of chemical shifts in proteins remains challenging, particularly for 15 N H . Here we report on isotropic chemical shift predictions for the carbohydrate recognition domain of microcrystalline galectin-3, obtained from using hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) calculations, implemented using an automated fragmentation approach, and using very high resolution (0.86 Å lactose-bound and 1.25 Å apo form) X-ray crystal structures. The resolution of the X-ray crystal structure used as an input into the AF-NMR program did not affect the accuracy of the chemical shift calculations to any significant extent. Excellent agreement between experimental and computed shifts is obtained for 13 C α , while larger scatter is observed for 15 N H chemical shifts, which are influenced to a greater extent by electrostatic interactions, hydrogen bonding, and solvation.

  18. Progress toward scalable tomography of quantum maps using twirling-based methods and information hierarchies

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Lopez, Cecilia C.; Theoretische Physik, Universitaet des Saarlandes, D-66041 Saarbruecken; Departament de Fisica, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, E-08193 Bellaterra

    2010-06-15

    We present in a unified manner the existing methods for scalable partial quantum process tomography. We focus on two main approaches: the one presented in Bendersky et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 190403 (2008)] and the ones described, respectively, in Emerson et al. [Science 317, 1893 (2007)] and Lopez et al. [Phys. Rev. A 79, 042328 (2009)], which can be combined together. The methods share an essential feature: They are based on the idea that the tomography of a quantum map can be efficiently performed by studying certain properties of a twirling of such a map. From this perspective, inmore » this paper we present extensions, improvements, and comparative analyses of the scalable methods for partial quantum process tomography. We also clarify the significance of the extracted information, and we introduce interesting and useful properties of the {chi}-matrix representation of quantum maps that can be used to establish a clearer path toward achieving full tomography of quantum processes in a scalable way.« less

  19. Apparatus and methods for detecting chemical permeation

    DOEpatents

    Vo-Dinh, T.

    1994-12-27

    Apparatus and methods for detecting the permeation of hazardous or toxic chemicals through protective clothing are disclosed. The hazardous or toxic chemicals of interest do not possess the spectral characteristic of luminescence. The apparatus and methods utilize a spectrochemical modification technique to detect the luminescence quenching of an indicator compound which upon permeation of the chemical through the protective clothing, the indicator is exposed to the chemical, thus indicating chemical permeation. The invention also relates to the fabrication of protective clothing materials. 13 figures.

  20. Molecular interactions in ethyl acetate-chlorobenzene binary solution: Dielectric, spectroscopic studies and quantum chemical calculations.

    PubMed

    Karthick, N K; Kumbharkhane, A C; Joshi, Y S; Mahendraprabu, A; Shanmugam, R; Elangovan, A; Arivazhagan, G

    2017-05-05

    Dielectric studies using Time Domain Reflectometry method has been carried out on the binary solution of Ethyl acetate (EA) with Chlorobenzene (CBZ) over the entire composition range. Spectroscopic (FTIR and 13 C NMR) signatures of neat EA, CBZ and their equimolar binary solution have also been recorded. The results of the spectroscopic studies favour the presence of (CBZ) CH⋯OC (EA), (EA) methylene CH⋯π electrons (CBZ) and (EA) methyl CH⋯Cl (CBZ) contacts which have been validated using quantum chemical calculations. Dimerization of CBZ has been identified. Presence of β-clusters has been identified in all the solutions. Although EA and CBZ molecules have nearly equal molar volumes, CBZ molecules experience larger hindrance for the rotation than EA molecules. Very small excess dielectric constant (ε E ) values may be correlated with weak heteromolecular forces and/or closed heteromolecular association. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. Molecular interactions in ethyl acetate-chlorobenzene binary solution: Dielectric, spectroscopic studies and quantum chemical calculations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Karthick, N. K.; Kumbharkhane, A. C.; Joshi, Y. S.; Mahendraprabu, A.; Shanmugam, R.; Elangovan, A.; Arivazhagan, G.

    2017-05-01

    Dielectric studies using Time Domain Reflectometry method has been carried out on the binary solution of Ethyl acetate (EA) with Chlorobenzene (CBZ) over the entire composition range. Spectroscopic (FTIR and 13C NMR) signatures of neat EA, CBZ and their equimolar binary solution have also been recorded. The results of the spectroscopic studies favour the presence of (CBZ) Csbnd H ⋯ Odbnd C (EA), (EA) methylene Csbnd H ⋯ π electrons (CBZ) and (EA) methyl Csbnd H ⋯ Cl (CBZ) contacts which have been validated using quantum chemical calculations. Dimerization of CBZ has been identified. Presence of β-clusters has been identified in all the solutions. Although EA and CBZ molecules have nearly equal molar volumes, CBZ molecules experience larger hindrance for the rotation than EA molecules. Very small excess dielectric constant (εE) values may be correlated with weak heteromolecular forces and/or closed heteromolecular association.

  2. Water-soluble luminescent quantum dots and biomolecular conjugates thereof and related compositions and methods of use

    DOEpatents

    Nie, Shuming; Chan, Warren C. W.; Emory, Stephen

    2007-03-20

    The present invention provides a water-soluble luminescent quantum dot, a biomolecular conjugate thereof and a composition comprising such a quantum dot or conjugate. Additionally, the present invention provides a method of obtaining a luminescent quantum dot, a method of making a biomolecular conjugate thereof, and methods of using a biomolecular conjugate for ultrasensitive nonisotopic detection in vitro and in vivo.

  3. Water-soluble luminescent quantum dots and biomolecular conjugates thereof and related compositions and method of use

    DOEpatents

    Nie, Shuming; Chan, Warren C. W.; Emory, Steven R.

    2002-01-01

    The present invention provides a water-soluble luminescent quantum dot, a biomolecular conjugate thereof and a composition comprising such a quantum dot or conjugate. Additionally, the present invention provides a method of obtaining a luminescent quantum dot, a method of making a biomolecular conjugate thereof, and methods of using a biomolecular conjugate for ultrasensitive nonisotopic detection in vitro and in vivo.

  4. Big Data Meets Quantum Chemistry Approximations: The Δ-Machine Learning Approach.

    PubMed

    Ramakrishnan, Raghunathan; Dral, Pavlo O; Rupp, Matthias; von Lilienfeld, O Anatole

    2015-05-12

    Chemically accurate and comprehensive studies of the virtual space of all possible molecules are severely limited by the computational cost of quantum chemistry. We introduce a composite strategy that adds machine learning corrections to computationally inexpensive approximate legacy quantum methods. After training, highly accurate predictions of enthalpies, free energies, entropies, and electron correlation energies are possible, for significantly larger molecular sets than used for training. For thermochemical properties of up to 16k isomers of C7H10O2 we present numerical evidence that chemical accuracy can be reached. We also predict electron correlation energy in post Hartree-Fock methods, at the computational cost of Hartree-Fock, and we establish a qualitative relationship between molecular entropy and electron correlation. The transferability of our approach is demonstrated, using semiempirical quantum chemistry and machine learning models trained on 1 and 10% of 134k organic molecules, to reproduce enthalpies of all remaining molecules at density functional theory level of accuracy.

  5. Computing protein infrared spectroscopy with quantum chemistry.

    PubMed

    Besley, Nicholas A

    2007-12-15

    Quantum chemistry is a field of science that has undergone unprecedented advances in the last 50 years. From the pioneering work of Boys in the 1950s, quantum chemistry has evolved from being regarded as a specialized and esoteric discipline to a widely used tool that underpins much of the current research in chemistry today. This achievement was recognized with the award of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to John Pople and Walter Kohn. As the new millennium unfolds, quantum chemistry stands at the forefront of an exciting new era. Quantitative calculations on systems of the magnitude of proteins are becoming a realistic possibility, an achievement that would have been unimaginable to the early pioneers of quantum chemistry. In this article we will describe ongoing work towards this goal, focusing on the calculation of protein infrared amide bands directly with quantum chemical methods.

  6. Epitaxial Zn quantum dots coherently grown on Si(1 1 1): growth mechanism, nonlinear optical and chemical states analyses

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Huang, Bo-Jia; Kao, Li-Chi; Brahma, Sanjaya; Jeng, Yu-En; Chiu, Shang-Jui; Ku, Ching-Shun; Lo, Kuang-Yao

    2017-05-01

    Oxide- and defect-free metal/semiconductor interface is important to improve Ohmic contact for the suppression of electron scattering and the avoidance of an extrinsic surface state in estimating the barrier of the Schottky contact at the nanodevice interface. This study reports the growth mechanism of Zn quantum dots coherently grown on Si(1 1 1) and the physical phenomena of the crystalline, nonlinear optics, and the chemical states of Zn quantum dots. Epitaxial Zn quantum dots were coherently formed on a non-oxide Si(1 1 1) surface through the liquid- to solid-phase transformation as a result of pattern matching between the Zn(0 0 2) and Si(1 1 1) surfaces. The growth mechanism of constrained Zn quantum dots grown through strategic magnetron radio frequency sputtering is complex. Some factors, such as substrate temperature, hydrogen gas flow, and negative DC bias, influence the configuration of epitaxial Zn quantum dots. In particular, hydrogen gas plays an important role in reducing the ZnO+ and native oxide that is bombarded by accelerated ions, thereby enhancing the Zn ion surface diffusion. The reduction reaction can be inspected by distinguishing the chemical states of ZnO/Zn quantum dots from natural oxidation or the states of Zn 3d through the analysis of x-ray absorption near the edge structure spectrum. The complex growth mechanism can be systematically understood by analyzing a noncancelled anisotropic 3 m dipole from reflective second harmonic generation and inspecting the evolution between the Zn(0 0 2) and Zn(1 1 1) peaks of the collective ZnO/Zn quantum dots in synchrotron XRD.

  7. Use of external cavity quantum cascade laser compliance voltage in real-time trace gas sensing of multiple chemicals

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Phillips, Mark C.; Taubman, Matthew S.; Kriesel, Jason M.

    2015-02-08

    We describe a prototype trace gas sensor designed for real-time detection of multiple chemicals. The sensor uses an external cavity quantum cascade laser (ECQCL) swept over its tuning range of 940-1075 cm-1 (9.30-10.7 µm) at a 10 Hz repetition rate.

  8. High quantum yield ZnO quantum dots synthesizing via an ultrasonication microreactor method.

    PubMed

    Yang, Weimin; Yang, Huafang; Ding, Wenhao; Zhang, Bing; Zhang, Le; Wang, Lixi; Yu, Mingxun; Zhang, Qitu

    2016-11-01

    Green emission ZnO quantum dots were synthesized by an ultrasonic microreactor. Ultrasonic radiation brought bubbles through ultrasonic cavitation. These bubbles built microreactor inside the microreactor. The photoluminescence properties of ZnO quantum dots synthesized with different flow rate, ultrasonic power and temperature were discussed. Flow rate, ultrasonic power and temperature would influence the type and quantity of defects in ZnO quantum dots. The sizes of ZnO quantum dots would be controlled by those conditions as well. Flow rate affected the reaction time. With the increasing of flow rate, the sizes of ZnO quantum dots decreased and the quantum yields first increased then decreased. Ultrasonic power changed the ultrasonic cavitation intensity, which affected the reaction energy and the separation of the solution. With the increasing of ultrasonic power, sizes of ZnO quantum dots first decreased then increased, while the quantum yields kept increasing. The effect of ultrasonic temperature on the photoluminescence properties of ZnO quantum dots was influenced by the flow rate. Different flow rate related to opposite changing trend. Moreover, the quantum yields of ZnO QDs synthesized by ultrasonic microreactor could reach 64.7%, which is higher than those synthesized only under ultrasonic radiation or only by microreactor. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  9. Quantum chemical characterization of zwitterionic structures: Supramolecular complexes for modifying the wettability of oil-water-limestone system.

    PubMed

    Lopez-Chavez, Ernesto; Garcia-Quiroz, Alberto; Gonzalez-Garcia, Gerardo; Orozco-Duran, Gabriela E; Zamudio-Rivera, Luis S; Martinez-Magadan, José M; Buenrostro-Gonzalez, Eduardo; Hernandez-Altamirano, Raul

    2014-06-01

    In this work, we present a quantum chemical study pertaining to some supramolecular complexes acting as wettability modifiers of oil-water-limestone system. The complexes studied are derived from zwitterionic liquids of the types N'-alkyl-bis, N-alquenil, N-cycloalkyl, N-amyl-bis-beta amino acid or salts acting as sparkling agents. We studied two molecules of zwitterionic liquids (ZL10 and ZL13), HOMO and LUMO levels, and the energy gap between them, were calculated, as well as the electron affinity (EA) and ionization potential (IP), chemical potential, chemical hardness, chemical electrophilicity index and selectivity descriptors such Fukui indices. In this work, electrochemical comparison was realized with cocamidopropyl betaine (CPB), which is a structure zwitterionic liquid type, nowadays widely applied in enhanced recovery processes. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. The variational method in quantum mechanics: an elementary introduction

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Borghi, Riccardo

    2018-05-01

    Variational methods in quantum mechanics are customarily presented as invaluable techniques to find approximate estimates of ground state energies. In the present paper a short catalogue of different celebrated potential distributions (both 1D and 3D), for which an exact and complete (energy and wavefunction) ground state determination can be achieved in an elementary way, is illustrated. No previous knowledge of calculus of variations is required. Rather, in all presented cases the exact energy functional minimization is achieved by using only a couple of simple mathematical tricks: ‘completion of square’ and integration by parts. This makes our approach particularly suitable for undergraduates. Moreover, the key role played by particle localization is emphasized through the entire analysis. This gentle introduction to the variational method could also be potentially attractive for more expert students as a possible elementary route toward a rather advanced topic on quantum mechanics: the factorization method. Such an unexpected connection is outlined in the final part of the paper.

  11. Quantum chemical calculations in the structural analysis of phloretin

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gómez-Zavaglia, Andrea

    2009-07-01

    In this work, a conformational search on the molecule of phloretin [2',4',6'-Trihydroxy-3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-propiophenone] has been performed. The molecule of phloretin has eight dihedral angles, four of them taking part in the carbon backbone and the other four, related with the orientation of the hydroxyl groups. A systematic search involving a random variation of the dihedral angles has been used to generate input structures for the quantum chemical calculations. Calculations at the DFT(B3LYP)/6-311++G(d,p) level of theory permitted the identification of 58 local minima belonging to the C 1 symmetry point group. The molecular structures of the conformers have been analyzed using hierarchical cluster analysis. This method allowed us to group conformers according to their similarities, and thus, to correlate the conformers' stability with structural parameters. The dendrogram obtained from the hierarchical cluster analysis depicted two main clusters. Cluster I included all the conformers with relative energies lower than 25 kJ mol -1 and cluster II, the remaining conformers. The possibility of forming intramolecular hydrogen bonds resulted the main factor contributing for the stability. Accordingly, all conformers depicting intramolecular H-bonds belong to cluster I. These conformations are clearly favored when the carbon backbone is as planar as possible. The values of the νC dbnd O and νOH vibrational modes were compared among all the conformers of phloretin. The redshifts associated with intramolecular H-bonds were correlated with the H-bonds distances and energies.

  12. High-School Students' Conceptual Difficulties and Attempts at Conceptual Change: The Case of Basic Quantum Chemical Concepts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tsaparlis, Georgios; Papaphotis, Georgios

    2009-01-01

    This study tested for deep understanding and critical thinking about basic quantum chemical concepts taught at 12th grade (age 17-18). Our aim was to achieve conceptual change in students. A quantitative study was conducted first (n = 125), and following this 23 selected students took part in semi-structured interviews either individually or in…

  13. Chemical potential and compressibility of quantum Hall bilayer excitons,.

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Skinner, Brian

    2016-02-25

    I consider a system of two parallel quantum Hall layers with total filling factor 0 or 1. When the distance between the layers is small enough, electrons and holes in opposite layers can form inter-layer excitons, which have a finite effective mass and interact via a dipole-dipole potential. I present results for the chemical potential u of the resulting bosonic system as a function of the exciton concentration n and the interlayer separation d. I show that both u and the interlayer capacitance have an unusual nonmonotonic dependence on d, owing to the interplay between an increasing dipole moment andmore » an increasing effective mass with increasing d. Finally, I discuss the transition between the superfluid and Wigner crystal phases, which is shown to occur at d x n-1/10. Results are derived first via simple intuitive arguments, and then verified with more careful analytic derivations and numeric calculations.« less

  14. Functional Carbon Quantum Dots: A Versatile Platform for Chemosensing and Biosensing.

    PubMed

    Feng, Hui; Qian, Zhaosheng

    2018-05-01

    Carbon quantum dot has emerged as a new promising fluorescent nanomaterial due to its excellent optical properties, outstanding biocompatibility and accessible fabrication methods, and has shown huge application perspective in a variety of areas, especially in chemosensing and biosensing applications. In this personal account, we give a brief overview of carbon quantum dots from its origin and preparation methods, present some advance on fluorescence origin of carbon quantum dots, and focus on development of chemosensors and biosensors based on functional carbon quantum dots. Comprehensive advances on functional carbon quantum dots as a versatile platform for sensing from our group are included and summarized as well as some typical examples from the other groups. The biosensing applications of functional carbon quantum dots are highlighted from selective assays of enzyme activity to fluorescent identification of cancer cells and bacteria. © 2018 The Chemical Society of Japan & Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  15. Compensation effects in molecular interactions and the quantum chemical le Chatelier principle.

    PubMed

    Mezey, Paul G

    2015-05-28

    Components of molecular interactions and various changes in the components of total energy changes during molecular processes typically exhibit some degrees of compensation. This may be as prominent as the over 90% compensation of the electronic energy and nuclear repulsion energy components of the total energy in some conformational changes. Some of these compensations are enhanced by solvent effects. For various arrangements of ions in a solvent, however, not only compensation but also a formal, mutual enhancement between the electronic energy and nuclear repulsion energy components of the total energy may also occur, when the tools of nuclear charge variation are applied to establish quantum chemically rigorous energy inequalities.

  16. Demonstration of a rapidly-swept external cavity quantum cascade laser for rapid and sensitive quantification of chemical mixtures

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Brumfield, Brian E.; Taubman, Matthew S.; Phillips, Mark C.

    2016-02-13

    A rapidly-swept external cavity quantum cascade laser (ECQCL) system for fast open-path quantification of multiple chemicals and mixtures is presented. The ECQCL system is swept over its entire tuning range (>100 cm-1) at frequencies up to 200 Hz. At 200 Hz the wavelength tuning rate and spectral resolution are 2x104 cm-1/sec and < 0.2 cm-1, respectively. The capability of the current system to quantify changes in chemical concentrations on millesecond timescales is demonstrated at atmospheric pressure using an open-path multi-pass cell. The detection limits for chemicals ranged from ppb to ppm levels depending on the absorption cross-section.

  17. The Nature of the Chemical Bond--1990.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ogilvie, J. F.

    1990-01-01

    Three aspects of quantum mechanics in modern chemistry are stressed: the fundamental structure of quantum mechanics as a basis of chemical applications, the relationship of quantum mechanics to atomic and molecular structure, and the consequent implications for chemical education. A list of 64 references is included. (CW)

  18. X-ray diffraction, vibrational and quantum chemical investigations of 2-methyl-4-nitroanilinium trichloroacetate trichloroacetic acid

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Arjunan, V.; Marchewka, Mariusz K.; Pietraszko, A.; Kalaivani, M.

    2012-11-01

    The structural investigations of the molecular complex of 2-methyl-4-nitroaniline with trichloroacetic acid, namely 2-methyl-4-nitroanilinium trichloroacetate trichloroacetic acid (C11H10Cl6N2O6) have been performed by means of single crystal and powder X-ray diffraction method. The complex was formed with accompanying proton transfer from trichloroacetic acid molecule to 2-methyl-4-nitroaniline. The studied crystal is built up of singly protonated 2-methyl-4-nitroanilinium cations, trichloroacetate anions and neutral trichloroacetic acid molecules. The crystals are monoclinic, space group P21/c, with a = 14.947 Å, b = 6.432 Å, c = 19.609 Å and Z = 4. The vibrational assignments and analysis of 2-methyl-4-nitroanilinium trichloroacetate trichloroacetic acid have also been performed by FTIR, FT-Raman and far-infrared spectral studies. More support on the experimental findings were added from the quantum chemical studies performed with DFT (B3LYP) method using 6-31G**, cc-pVDZ, 6-31G and 6-31++G basis sets. The structural parameters, energies, thermodynamic parameters and the NBO charges of 2M4NATCA were also determined by the DFT methods.

  19. Quantum Fragment Based ab Initio Molecular Dynamics for Proteins.

    PubMed

    Liu, Jinfeng; Zhu, Tong; Wang, Xianwei; He, Xiao; Zhang, John Z H

    2015-12-08

    Developing ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) methods for practical application in protein dynamics is of significant interest. Due to the large size of biomolecules, applying standard quantum chemical methods to compute energies for dynamic simulation is computationally prohibitive. In this work, a fragment based ab initio molecular dynamics approach is presented for practical application in protein dynamics study. In this approach, the energy and forces of the protein are calculated by a recently developed electrostatically embedded generalized molecular fractionation with conjugate caps (EE-GMFCC) method. For simulation in explicit solvent, mechanical embedding is introduced to treat protein interaction with explicit water molecules. This AIMD approach has been applied to MD simulations of a small benchmark protein Trpcage (with 20 residues and 304 atoms) in both the gas phase and in solution. Comparison to the simulation result using the AMBER force field shows that the AIMD gives a more stable protein structure in the simulation, indicating that quantum chemical energy is more reliable. Importantly, the present fragment-based AIMD simulation captures quantum effects including electrostatic polarization and charge transfer that are missing in standard classical MD simulations. The current approach is linear-scaling, trivially parallel, and applicable to performing the AIMD simulation of proteins with a large size.

  20. Quantum criticality of one-dimensional multicomponent Fermi gas with strongly attractive interaction

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    He, Peng; Jiang, Yuzhu; Guan, Xiwen; He, Jinyu

    2015-01-01

    Quantum criticality of strongly attractive Fermi gas with SU(3) symmetry in one dimension is studied via the thermodynamic Bethe ansatz (TBA) equations. The phase transitions driven by the chemical potential μ , effective magnetic field H1, H2 (chemical potential biases) are analyzed at the quantum criticality. The phase diagram and critical fields are analytically determined by the TBA equations in the zero temperature limit. High accurate equations of state, scaling functions are also obtained analytically for the strong interacting gases. The dynamic exponent z=2 and correlation length exponent ν =1/2 read off the universal scaling form. It turns out that the quantum criticality of the three-component gases involves a sudden change of density of states of one cluster state, two or three cluster states. In general, this method can be adapted to deal with the quantum criticality of multicomponent Fermi gases with SU(N) symmetry.

  1. Parallel algorithms for quantum chemistry. I. Integral transformations on a hypercube multiprocessor

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Whiteside, R.A.; Binkley, J.S.; Colvin, M.E.

    1987-02-15

    For many years it has been recognized that fundamental physical constraints such as the speed of light will limit the ultimate speed of single processor computers to less than about three billion floating point operations per second (3 GFLOPS). This limitation is becoming increasingly restrictive as commercially available machines are now within an order of magnitude of this asymptotic limit. A natural way to avoid this limit is to harness together many processors to work on a single computational problem. In principle, these parallel processing computers have speeds limited only by the number of processors one chooses to acquire. Themore » usefulness of potentially unlimited processing speed to a computationally intensive field such as quantum chemistry is obvious. If these methods are to be applied to significantly larger chemical systems, parallel schemes will have to be employed. For this reason we have developed distributed-memory algorithms for a number of standard quantum chemical methods. We are currently implementing these on a 32 processor Intel hypercube. In this paper we present our algorithm and benchmark results for one of the bottleneck steps in quantum chemical calculations: the four index integral transformation.« less

  2. Quantum Chemistry in Great Britain: Developing a Mathematical Framework for Quantum Chemistry

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Simões, Ana; Gavroglu, Kostas

    By 1935 quantum chemistry was already delineated as a distinct sub-discipline due to the contributions of Fritz London, Walter Heitler, Friedrich Hund, Erich Hückel, Robert Mulliken, Linus Pauling, John van Vleck and John Slater. These people are credited with showing that the application of quantum mechanics to the solution of chemical problems was, indeed, possible, especially so after the introduction of a number of new concepts and the adoption of certain approximation methods. And though a number of chemists had started talking of the formation of theoretical or, even, mathematical chemistry, a fully developed mathematical framework of quantum chemistry was still wanting. The work of three persons in particular-of John E. Lennard-Jones, Douglas R. Hartree, and Charles Alfred Coulson-has been absolutely crucial in the development of such a framework. In this paper we shall discuss the work of these three researchers who started their careers in the Cambridge tradition of mathematical physics and who at some point of their careers all became professors of applied mathematics. We shall argue that their work consisted of decisive contributions to the development of such a mathematical framework for quantum chemistry.

  3. Aryl-modified graphene quantum dots with enhanced photoluminescence and improved pH tolerance

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Luo, Peihui; Ji, Zhe; Li, Chun; Shi, Gaoquan

    2013-07-01

    Chemical modification is an important technique to modulate the chemical and optical properties of graphene quantum dots (GQDs). In this paper, we report a versatile diazonium chemistry method to graft aryl groups including phenyl, 4-carboxyphenyl, 4-sulfophenyl and 5-sulfonaphthyl to GQDs via Gomberg-Bachmann reaction. The aryl-modified GQDs are nanocrystals with lateral dimensions in the range of 2-4 nm and an average thickness lower than 1 nm. Upon chemical modification with aryl groups, the photoluminescence (PL) bands of GQDs were tuned in the range of 418 and 447 nm, and their fluorescence quantum yields (QYs) were increased for up to about 6 times. Furthermore, the aryl-modified GQDs exhibited stable PL (both intensity and peak position) in a wide pH window of 1-11. The mechanism of improving the PL properties of GQDs by aryl-modification was also discussed.Chemical modification is an important technique to modulate the chemical and optical properties of graphene quantum dots (GQDs). In this paper, we report a versatile diazonium chemistry method to graft aryl groups including phenyl, 4-carboxyphenyl, 4-sulfophenyl and 5-sulfonaphthyl to GQDs via Gomberg-Bachmann reaction. The aryl-modified GQDs are nanocrystals with lateral dimensions in the range of 2-4 nm and an average thickness lower than 1 nm. Upon chemical modification with aryl groups, the photoluminescence (PL) bands of GQDs were tuned in the range of 418 and 447 nm, and their fluorescence quantum yields (QYs) were increased for up to about 6 times. Furthermore, the aryl-modified GQDs exhibited stable PL (both intensity and peak position) in a wide pH window of 1-11. The mechanism of improving the PL properties of GQDs by aryl-modification was also discussed. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Fluorescence quantum yield measurements, estimation of grafting ratio, TEM images, FTIR spectra, PL spectra and zeta potentials. See DOI: 10.1039/c3nr02156d

  4. Quantum mechanical fragment methods based on partitioning atoms or partitioning coordinates.

    PubMed

    Wang, Bo; Yang, Ke R; Xu, Xuefei; Isegawa, Miho; Leverentz, Hannah R; Truhlar, Donald G

    2014-09-16

    Conspectus The development of more efficient and more accurate ways to represent reactive potential energy surfaces is a requirement for extending the simulation of large systems to more complex systems, longer-time dynamical processes, and more complete statistical mechanical sampling. One way to treat large systems is by direct dynamics fragment methods. Another way is by fitting system-specific analytic potential energy functions with methods adapted to large systems. Here we consider both approaches. First we consider three fragment methods that allow a given monomer to appear in more than one fragment. The first two approaches are the electrostatically embedded many-body (EE-MB) expansion and the electrostatically embedded many-body expansion of the correlation energy (EE-MB-CE), which we have shown to yield quite accurate results even when one restricts the calculations to include only electrostatically embedded dimers. The third fragment method is the electrostatically embedded molecular tailoring approach (EE-MTA), which is more flexible than EE-MB and EE-MB-CE. We show that electrostatic embedding greatly improves the accuracy of these approaches compared with the original unembedded approaches. Quantum mechanical fragment methods share with combined quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical (QM/MM) methods the need to treat a quantum mechanical fragment in the presence of the rest of the system, which is especially challenging for those parts of the rest of the system that are close to the boundary of the quantum mechanical fragment. This is a delicate matter even for fragments that are not covalently bonded to the rest of the system, but it becomes even more difficult when the boundary of the quantum mechanical fragment cuts a bond. We have developed a suite of methods for more realistically treating interactions across such boundaries. These methods include redistributing and balancing the external partial atomic charges and the use of tuned fluorine

  5. Molecular dispersion spectroscopy for chemical sensing using chirped mid-infrared quantum cascade laser.

    PubMed

    Wysocki, Gerard; Weidmann, Damien

    2010-12-06

    A spectroscopic method of molecular detection based on dispersion measurements using a frequency-chirped laser source is presented. An infrared quantum cascade laser emitting around 1912 cm(-1) is used as a tunable spectroscopic source to measure dispersion that occurs in the vicinity of molecular ro-vibrational transitions. The sample under study is a mixture of nitric oxide in dry nitrogen. Two experimental configurations based on a coherent detection scheme are investigated and discussed. The theoretical models, which describe the observed spectral signals, are developed and verified experimentally. The method is particularly relevant to optical sensing based on mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers as the high chirp rates available with those sources can significantly enhance the magnitude of the measured dispersion signals. The method relies on heterodyne beatnote frequency measurements and shows high immunity to variations in the optical power received by the photodetector.

  6. Quantum chemical studies on the inhibition potentials of some Penicillin compounds for the corrosion of mild steel in 0.1 M HCl.

    PubMed

    Eddy, Nnabuk Okon; Ebenso, Eno E

    2010-07-01

    Inhibitive and adsorption properties of Penicillin G, Amoxicillin and Penicillin V potassium were studied using gravimetric, gasometric and quantum chemical methods. The results obtained indicate that these compounds are good adsorption inhibitors for the corrosion of mild steel in HCl solution. The adsorption of the inhibitors on mild steel surface is spontaneous, exothermic and supports the mechanism of physical adsorption. From DFT results, the sites for nucleophilic attacks in the inhibitors are the carboxylic acid functional group while the sites for electrophilic attacks are in the phenyl ring. There was a strong correlation between theoretical and experimental inhibition efficiencies.

  7. Spectroscopic chemical analysis methods and apparatus

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hug, William F. (Inventor); Reid, Ray D. (Inventor)

    2009-01-01

    Spectroscopic chemical analysis methods and apparatus are disclosed which employ deep ultraviolet (e.g. in the 200 nm to 300 nm spectral range) electron beam pumped wide bandgap semiconductor lasers, incoherent wide bandgap semiconductor light emitting devices, and hollow cathode metal ion lasers to perform non-contact, non-invasive detection of unknown chemical analytes. These deep ultraviolet sources enable dramatic size, weight and power consumption reductions of chemical analysis instruments. Chemical analysis instruments employed in some embodiments include capillary and gel plane electrophoresis, capillary electrochromatography, high performance liquid chromatography, flow cytometry, flow cells for liquids and aerosols, and surface detection instruments. In some embodiments, Raman spectroscopic detection methods and apparatus use ultra-narrow-band angle tuning filters, acousto-optic tuning filters, and temperature tuned filters to enable ultra-miniature analyzers for chemical identification. In some embodiments Raman analysis is conducted simultaneously with native fluorescence spectroscopy to provide high levels of sensitivity and specificity in the same instrument.

  8. Spectroscopic chemical analysis methods and apparatus

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hug, William F. (Inventor); Reid, Ray D. (Inventor); Bhartia, Rohit (Inventor)

    2013-01-01

    Spectroscopic chemical analysis methods and apparatus are disclosed which employ deep ultraviolet (e.g. in the 200 nm to 300 nm spectral range) electron beam pumped wide bandgap semiconductor lasers, incoherent wide bandgap semiconductor light emitting devices, and hollow cathode metal ion lasers to perform non-contact, non-invasive detection of unknown chemical analytes. These deep ultraviolet sources enable dramatic size, weight and power consumption reductions of chemical analysis instruments. Chemical analysis instruments employed in some embodiments include capillary and gel plane electrophoresis, capillary electrochromatography, high performance liquid chromatography, flow cytometry, flow cells for liquids and aerosols, and surface detection instruments. In some embodiments, Raman spectroscopic detection methods and apparatus use ultra-narrow-band angle tuning filters, acousto-optic tuning filters, and temperature tuned filters to enable ultra-miniature analyzers for chemical identification. In some embodiments Raman analysis is conducted along with photoluminescence spectroscopy (i.e. fluorescence and/or phosphorescence spectroscopy) to provide high levels of sensitivity and specificity in the same instrument.

  9. Spectroscopic chemical analysis methods and apparatus

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Reid, Ray D. (Inventor); Hug, William F. (Inventor)

    2010-01-01

    Spectroscopic chemical analysis methods and apparatus are disclosed which employ deep ultraviolet (e.g. in the 200 nm to 300 nm spectral range) electron beam pumped wide bandgap semiconductor lasers, incoherent wide bandgap semiconductor light emitting devices, and hollow cathode metal ion lasers to perform non-contact, non-invasive detection of unknown chemical analytes. These deep ultraviolet sources enable dramatic size, weight and power consumption reductions of chemical analysis instruments. Chemical analysis instruments employed in some embodiments include capillary and gel plane electrophoresis, capillary electrochromatography, high performance liquid chromatography, flow cytometry, flow cells for liquids and aerosols, and surface detection instruments. In some embodiments, Raman spectroscopic detection methods and apparatus use ultra-narrow-band angle tuning filters, acousto-optic tuning filters, and temperature tuned filters to enable ultra-miniature analyzers for chemical identification. In some embodiments Raman analysis is conducted simultaneously with native fluorescence spectroscopy to provide high levels of sensitivity and specificity in the same instrument.

  10. Spectroscopic Chemical Analysis Methods and Apparatus

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hug, William F. (Inventor); Lane, Arthur L. (Inventor); Bhartia, Rohit (Inventor); Reid, Ray D. (Inventor)

    2017-01-01

    Spectroscopic chemical analysis methods and apparatus are disclosed which employ deep ultraviolet (e.g. in the 200 nm to 300 nm spectral range) electron beam pumped wide bandgap semiconductor lasers, incoherent wide bandgap semiconductor light emitting devices, and hollow cathode metal ion lasers to perform non-contact, non-invasive detection of unknown chemical analytes. These deep ultraviolet sources enable dramatic size, weight and power consumption reductions of chemical analysis instruments. In some embodiments, Raman spectroscopic detection methods and apparatus use ultra-narrow-band angle tuning filters, acousto-optic tuning filters, and temperature tuned filters to enable ultra-miniature analyzers for chemical identification. In some embodiments Raman analysis is conducted along with photoluminescence spectroscopy (i.e. fluorescence and/or phosphorescence spectroscopy) to provide high levels of sensitivity and specificity in the same instrument.

  11. Spectroscopic Chemical Analysis Methods and Apparatus

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hug, William F. (Inventor); Lane, Arthur L. (Inventor); Reid, Ray D. (Inventor); Bhartia, Rohit (Inventor)

    2018-01-01

    Spectroscopic chemical analysis methods and apparatus are disclosed which employ deep ultraviolet (e.g. in the 200 nm to 300 nm spectral range) electron beam pumped wide bandgap semiconductor lasers, incoherent wide bandgap semiconductor light emitting devices, and hollow cathode metal ion lasers to perform non-contact, non-invasive detection of unknown chemical analytes. These deep ultraviolet sources enable dramatic size, weight and power consumption reductions of chemical analysis instruments. In some embodiments, Raman spectroscopic detection methods and apparatus use ultra-narrow-band angle tuning filters, acousto-optic tuning filters, and temperature tuned filters to enable ultra-miniature analyzers for chemical identification. In some embodiments Raman analysis is conducted along with photoluminescence spectroscopy (i.e. fluorescence and/or phosphorescence spectroscopy) to provide high levels of sensitivity and specificity in the same instrument.

  12. Chemical processing of three-dimensional graphene networks on transparent conducting electrodes for depleted-heterojunction quantum dot solar cells.

    PubMed

    Tavakoli, Mohammad Mahdi; Simchi, Abdolreza; Fan, Zhiyong; Aashuri, Hossein

    2016-01-07

    We present a novel chemical procedure to prepare three-dimensional graphene networks (3DGNs) as a transparent conductive film to enhance the photovoltaic performance of PbS quantum-dot (QD) solar cells. It is shown that 3DGN electrodes enhance electron extraction, yielding a 30% improvement in performance compared with the conventional device.

  13. Size-Dependent Optoelectronic Properties and Controlled Doping of Semiconductor Quantum Dots

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Engel, Jesse Hart

    Given a rapidly developing world, the need exists for inexpensive renewable energy alternatives to help avoid drastic climate change. Photovoltaics have the potential to fill the energy needs of the future, but significant cost decreases are necessary for widespread adoption. Semiconductor nanocrystals, also known as quantum dots, are a nascent technology with long term potential to enable inexpensive and high efficiency photovoltaics. When deposited as a film, quantum dots form unique nanocomposites whose electronic and optical properties can be broadly tuned through manipulation of their individual constituents. The contents of this thesis explore methods to understand and optimize the optoelectronic properties of PbSe quantum dot films for use in photovoltaic applications. Systematic optimization of photovoltaic performance is demonstrated as a function of nanocrystal size, establishing the potential for utilizing extreme quantum confinement to improve device energetics and alignment. Detailed investigations of the mechanisms of electrical transport are performed, revealing that electronic coupling in quantum dot films is significantly less than often assumed based on optical shifts. A method is proposed to employ extended regions of built-in electrical field, through controlled doping, to sidestep issues of poor transport. To this end, treatments with chemical redox agents are found to effect profound and reversible doping within nanocrystal films, sufficient to enable their use as chemical sensors, but lacking the precision required for optoelectronic applications. Finally, a novel doping method employing "redox buffers" is presented to enact precise, stable, and reversible charge-transfer doping in porous semiconductor films. An example of oxidatively doping PbSe quantum dot thin films is presented, and the future potential for redox buffers in photovoltaic applications is examined.

  14. Recent Progress in Treating Protein-Ligand Interactions with Quantum-Mechanical Methods.

    PubMed

    Yilmazer, Nusret Duygu; Korth, Martin

    2016-05-16

    We review the first successes and failures of a "new wave" of quantum chemistry-based approaches to the treatment of protein/ligand interactions. These approaches share the use of "enhanced", dispersion (D), and/or hydrogen-bond (H) corrected density functional theory (DFT) or semi-empirical quantum mechanical (SQM) methods, in combination with ensemble weighting techniques of some form to capture entropic effects. Benchmark and model system calculations in comparison to high-level theoretical as well as experimental references have shown that both DFT-D (dispersion-corrected density functional theory) and SQM-DH (dispersion and hydrogen bond-corrected semi-empirical quantum mechanical) perform much more accurately than older DFT and SQM approaches and also standard docking methods. In addition, DFT-D might soon become and SQM-DH already is fast enough to compute a large number of binding modes of comparably large protein/ligand complexes, thus allowing for a more accurate assessment of entropic effects.

  15. Chemical microreactor and method thereof

    DOEpatents

    Morse, Jeffrey D [Martinez, CA; Jankowski, Alan [Livermore, CA

    2011-08-09

    A method for forming a chemical microreactor includes forming at least one capillary microchannel in a substrate having at least one inlet and at least one outlet, integrating at least one heater into the chemical microreactor, interfacing the capillary microchannel with a liquid chemical reservoir at the inlet of the capillary microchannel, and interfacing the capillary microchannel with a porous membrane near the outlet of the capillary microchannel, the porous membrane being positioned beyond the outlet of the capillary microchannel, wherein the porous membrane has at least one catalyst material imbedded therein.

  16. Predicting Hydride Donor Strength via Quantum Chemical Calculations of Hydride Transfer Activation Free Energy.

    PubMed

    Alherz, Abdulaziz; Lim, Chern-Hooi; Hynes, James T; Musgrave, Charles B

    2018-01-25

    We propose a method to approximate the kinetic properties of hydride donor species by relating the nucleophilicity (N) of a hydride to the activation free energy ΔG ⧧ of its corresponding hydride transfer reaction. N is a kinetic parameter related to the hydride transfer rate constant that quantifies a nucleophilic hydridic species' tendency to donate. Our method estimates N using quantum chemical calculations to compute ΔG ⧧ for hydride transfers from hydride donors to CO 2 in solution. A linear correlation for each class of hydrides is then established between experimentally determined N values and the computationally predicted ΔG ⧧ ; this relationship can then be used to predict nucleophilicity for different hydride donors within each class. This approach is employed to determine N for four different classes of hydride donors: two organic (carbon-based and benzimidazole-based) and two inorganic (boron and silicon) hydride classes. We argue that silicon and boron hydrides are driven by the formation of the more stable Si-O or B-O bond. In contrast, the carbon-based hydrides considered herein are driven by the stability acquired upon rearomatization, a feature making these species of particular interest, because they both exhibit catalytic behavior and can be recycled.

  17. Single-particle tracking of quantum dot-conjugated prion proteins inside yeast cells

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Tsuji, Toshikazu; Kawai-Noma, Shigeko; Pack, Chan-Gi

    2011-02-25

    Research highlights: {yields} We develop a method to track a quantum dot-conjugated protein in yeast cells. {yields} We incorporate the conjugated quantum dot proteins into yeast spheroplasts. {yields} We track the motions by conventional or 3D tracking microscopy. -- Abstract: Yeast is a model eukaryote with a variety of biological resources. Here we developed a method to track a quantum dot (QD)-conjugated protein in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We chemically conjugated QDs with the yeast prion Sup35, incorporated them into yeast spheroplasts, and tracked the motions by conventional two-dimensional or three-dimensional tracking microscopy. The method paves the way towardmore » the individual tracking of proteins of interest inside living yeast cells.« less

  18. Discrete stochastic simulation methods for chemically reacting systems.

    PubMed

    Cao, Yang; Samuels, David C

    2009-01-01

    Discrete stochastic chemical kinetics describe the time evolution of a chemically reacting system by taking into account the fact that, in reality, chemical species are present with integer populations and exhibit some degree of randomness in their dynamical behavior. In recent years, with the development of new techniques to study biochemistry dynamics in a single cell, there are increasing studies using this approach to chemical kinetics in cellular systems, where the small copy number of some reactant species in the cell may lead to deviations from the predictions of the deterministic differential equations of classical chemical kinetics. This chapter reviews the fundamental theory related to stochastic chemical kinetics and several simulation methods based on that theory. We focus on nonstiff biochemical systems and the two most important discrete stochastic simulation methods: Gillespie's stochastic simulation algorithm (SSA) and the tau-leaping method. Different implementation strategies of these two methods are discussed. Then we recommend a relatively simple and efficient strategy that combines the strengths of the two methods: the hybrid SSA/tau-leaping method. The implementation details of the hybrid strategy are given here and a related software package is introduced. Finally, the hybrid method is applied to simple biochemical systems as a demonstration of its application.

  19. The Alexandria library, a quantum-chemical database of molecular properties for force field development.

    PubMed

    Ghahremanpour, Mohammad M; van Maaren, Paul J; van der Spoel, David

    2018-04-10

    Data quality as well as library size are crucial issues for force field development. In order to predict molecular properties in a large chemical space, the foundation to build force fields on needs to encompass a large variety of chemical compounds. The tabulated molecular physicochemical properties also need to be accurate. Due to the limited transparency in data used for development of existing force fields it is hard to establish data quality and reusability is low. This paper presents the Alexandria library as an open and freely accessible database of optimized molecular geometries, frequencies, electrostatic moments up to the hexadecupole, electrostatic potential, polarizabilities, and thermochemistry, obtained from quantum chemistry calculations for 2704 compounds. Values are tabulated and where available compared to experimental data. This library can assist systematic development and training of empirical force fields for a broad range of molecules.

  20. The Alexandria library, a quantum-chemical database of molecular properties for force field development

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ghahremanpour, Mohammad M.; van Maaren, Paul J.; van der Spoel, David

    2018-04-01

    Data quality as well as library size are crucial issues for force field development. In order to predict molecular properties in a large chemical space, the foundation to build force fields on needs to encompass a large variety of chemical compounds. The tabulated molecular physicochemical properties also need to be accurate. Due to the limited transparency in data used for development of existing force fields it is hard to establish data quality and reusability is low. This paper presents the Alexandria library as an open and freely accessible database of optimized molecular geometries, frequencies, electrostatic moments up to the hexadecupole, electrostatic potential, polarizabilities, and thermochemistry, obtained from quantum chemistry calculations for 2704 compounds. Values are tabulated and where available compared to experimental data. This library can assist systematic development and training of empirical force fields for a broad range of molecules.

  1. Quantum mechanical force field for hydrogen fluoride with explicit electronic polarization.

    PubMed

    Mazack, Michael J M; Gao, Jiali

    2014-05-28

    The explicit polarization (X-Pol) theory is a fragment-based quantum chemical method that explicitly models the internal electronic polarization and intermolecular interactions of a chemical system. X-Pol theory provides a framework to construct a quantum mechanical force field, which we have extended to liquid hydrogen fluoride (HF) in this work. The parameterization, called XPHF, is built upon the same formalism introduced for the XP3P model of liquid water, which is based on the polarized molecular orbital (PMO) semiempirical quantum chemistry method and the dipole-preserving polarization consistent point charge model. We introduce a fluorine parameter set for PMO, and find good agreement for various gas-phase results of small HF clusters compared to experiments and ab initio calculations at the M06-2X/MG3S level of theory. In addition, the XPHF model shows reasonable agreement with experiments for a variety of structural and thermodynamic properties in the liquid state, including radial distribution functions, interaction energies, diffusion coefficients, and densities at various state points.

  2. Classical Wigner method with an effective quantum force: application to reaction rates.

    PubMed

    Poulsen, Jens Aage; Li, Huaqing; Nyman, Gunnar

    2009-07-14

    We construct an effective "quantum force" to be used in the classical molecular dynamics part of the classical Wigner method when determining correlation functions. The quantum force is obtained by estimating the most important short time separation of the Feynman paths that enter into the expression for the correlation function. The evaluation of the force is then as easy as classical potential energy evaluations. The ideas are tested on three reaction rate problems. The resulting transmission coefficients are in much better agreement with accurate results than transmission coefficients from the ordinary classical Wigner method.

  3. Studies on the Conformational Landscape of Tert-Butyl Acetate Using Microwave Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemical Calculations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhao, YueYue; Mouhib, Halima; Li, Guohua; Stahl, Wolfgang; Kleiner, Isabelle

    2014-06-01

    The tert-Butyl acetate molecule was studied using a combination of quantum chemical calculations and molecular beam Fourier transform microwave spectroscopy in the 9 to 14 GHz range. Due to its rather rigid frame, the molecule possesses only two different conformers: one of Cs and one of C1 symmetry. According to ab initio calculations, the Cs conformer is 46 kJ/mol lower in energy and is the one observed in the supersonic jet. We report on the structure and dynamics of the most abundant conformer of tert-butyl acetate, with accurate rotational and centrifugal distortion constants. Additionally, the barrier to internal rotation of the acetyl methyl group was determined. Splittings due to the internal rotation of the methyl group of up to 1.3 GHz were observed in the spectrum. Using the programs XIAM and BELGI-Cs, we determine the barrier height to be about 113 cm-1 and compare the molecular parameters obtained from these two codes. Additionally, the experimental rotational constants were used to validate numerous quantum chemical calculations. This study is part of a larger project which aims at determining the lowest energy conformers of organic esters and ketones which are of interest for flavor or perfume synthetic applications Project partly supported by the PHC PROCOPE 25059YB.

  4. Modelling of nanoscale quantum tunnelling structures using algebraic topology method

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sankaran, Krishnaswamy; Sairam, B.

    2018-05-01

    We have modelled nanoscale quantum tunnelling structures using Algebraic Topology Method (ATM). The accuracy of ATM is compared to the analytical solution derived based on the wave nature of tunnelling electrons. ATM provides a versatile, fast, and simple model to simulate complex structures. We are currently expanding the method for modelling electrodynamic systems.

  5. Chemical control methods and tools

    Treesearch

    Steven Manning; James Miller

    2011-01-01

    After determining the best course of action for control of an invasive plant population, it is important to understand the variety of methods available to the integrated pest management professional. A variety of methods are now widely used in managing invasive plants in natural areas, including chemical, mechanical, and cultural control methods. Once the preferred...

  6. Method and apparatus for chemical synthesis

    DOEpatents

    Kong; Peter C. , Herring; J. Stephen , Grandy; Jon D.

    2007-12-04

    A method and apparatus for forming a chemical hydride is described and which includes a pseudo-plasma-electrolysis reactor which is operable to receive a solution capable of forming a chemical hydride and which further includes a cathode and a movable anode, and wherein the anode is moved into and out of fluidic, ohmic electrical contact with the solution capable of forming a chemical hydride and which further, when energized produces an oxygen plasma which facilitates the formation of a chemical hydride in the solution.

  7. Portable open-path chemical sensor using a quantum cascade laser

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Corrigan, Paul; Lwin, Maung; Huntley, Reuven; Chhabra, Amandeep; Moshary, Fred; Gross, Barry; Ahmed, Samir

    2009-05-01

    Remote sensing of enemy installations or their movements by trace gas detection is a critical but challenging military objective. Open path measurements over ranges of a few meters to many kilometers with sensitivity in the parts per million or billion regime are crucial in anticipating the presence of a threat. Previous approaches to detect ground level chemical plumes, explosive constituents, or combustion have relied on low-resolution, short range Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR), or low-sensitivity near-infrared differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS). As mid-infrared quantum cascade laser (QCL) sources have improved in cost and performance, systems based on QCL's that can be tailored to monitor multiple chemical species in real time are becoming a viable alternative. We present the design of a portable, high-resolution, multi-kilometer open path trace gas sensor based on QCL technology. Using a tunable (1045-1047cm-1) QCL, a modeled atmosphere and link-budget analysis with commercial component specifications, we show that with this approach, accuracy in parts per billion ozone or ammonia can be obtained in seconds at path lengths up to 10 km. We have assembled an open-path QCL sensor based on this theoretical approach at City College of New York, and we present preliminary results demonstrating the potential of QCLs in open-path sensing applications.

  8. Efficient free energy calculations of quantum systems through computer simulations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Antonelli, Alex; Ramirez, Rafael; Herrero, Carlos; Hernandez, Eduardo

    2009-03-01

    In general, the classical limit is assumed in computer simulation calculations of free energy. This approximation, however, is not justifiable for a class of systems in which quantum contributions for the free energy cannot be neglected. The inclusion of quantum effects is important for the determination of reliable phase diagrams of these systems. In this work, we present a new methodology to compute the free energy of many-body quantum systems [1]. This methodology results from the combination of the path integral formulation of statistical mechanics and efficient non-equilibrium methods to estimate free energy, namely, the adiabatic switching and reversible scaling methods. A quantum Einstein crystal is used as a model to show the accuracy and reliability the methodology. This new method is applied to the calculation of solid-liquid coexistence properties of neon. Our findings indicate that quantum contributions to properties such as, melting point, latent heat of fusion, entropy of fusion, and slope of melting line can be up to 10% of the calculated values using the classical approximation. [1] R. M. Ramirez, C. P. Herrero, A. Antonelli, and E. R. Hernández, Journal of Chemical Physics 129, 064110 (2008)

  9. Evolution of Quantitative Measures in NMR: Quantum Mechanical qHNMR Advances Chemical Standardization of a Red Clover (Trifolium pratense) Extract

    PubMed Central

    2017-01-01

    Chemical standardization, along with morphological and DNA analysis ensures the authenticity and advances the integrity evaluation of botanical preparations. Achievement of a more comprehensive, metabolomic standardization requires simultaneous quantitation of multiple marker compounds. Employing quantitative 1H NMR (qHNMR), this study determined the total isoflavone content (TIfCo; 34.5–36.5% w/w) via multimarker standardization and assessed the stability of a 10-year-old isoflavone-enriched red clover extract (RCE). Eleven markers (nine isoflavones, two flavonols) were targeted simultaneously, and outcomes were compared with LC-based standardization. Two advanced quantitative measures in qHNMR were applied to derive quantities from complex and/or overlapping resonances: a quantum mechanical (QM) method (QM-qHNMR) that employs 1H iterative full spin analysis, and a non-QM method that uses linear peak fitting algorithms (PF-qHNMR). A 10 min UHPLC-UV method provided auxiliary orthogonal quantitation. This is the first systematic evaluation of QM and non-QM deconvolution as qHNMR quantitation measures. It demonstrates that QM-qHNMR can account successfully for the complexity of 1H NMR spectra of individual analytes and how QM-qHNMR can be built for mixtures such as botanical extracts. The contents of the main bioactive markers were in good agreement with earlier HPLC-UV results, demonstrating the chemical stability of the RCE. QM-qHNMR advances chemical standardization by its inherent QM accuracy and the use of universal calibrants, avoiding the impractical need for identical reference materials. PMID:28067513

  10. Device for collecting chemical compounds and related methods

    DOEpatents

    Scott, Jill R.; Groenewold, Gary S.; Rae, Catherine

    2013-01-01

    A device for sampling chemical compounds from fixed surfaces and related methods are disclosed. The device may include a vacuum source, a chamber and a sorbent material. The device may utilize vacuum extraction to volatilize the chemical compounds from the fixed surfaces so that they may be sorbed by the sorbent material. The sorbent material may then be analyzed using conventional thermal desorption/gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (TD/GC/MS) instrumentation to determine presence of the chemical compounds. The methods may include detecting release and presence of one or more chemical compounds and determining the efficacy of decontamination. The device may be useful in collection and analysis of a variety of chemical compounds, such as residual chemical warfare agents, chemical attribution signatures and toxic industrial chemicals.

  11. [Mass spectrometric and quantum chemical study of dimeric associates of nucleosides].

    PubMed

    Sukhodub, L F; Aksenov, S A; Boldeskul, A I

    1995-01-01

    Deoxyribonucleosides H-bonded pairs were investigated using fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry and MNDO/H quantum chemistry method. It was shown that "rare" (enol or imin) forms of the nitrogen bases could form pairs with energy comparable with "canonical" base pair energy. It was shown that pair stability rows, which are measured using different experimental techniques, were in conformity each with other.

  12. Quantifying quantum coherence with quantum Fisher information.

    PubMed

    Feng, X N; Wei, L F

    2017-11-14

    Quantum coherence is one of the old but always important concepts in quantum mechanics, and now it has been regarded as a necessary resource for quantum information processing and quantum metrology. However, the question of how to quantify the quantum coherence has just been paid the attention recently (see, e.g., Baumgratz et al. PRL, 113. 140401 (2014)). In this paper we verify that the well-known quantum Fisher information (QFI) can be utilized to quantify the quantum coherence, as it satisfies the monotonicity under the typical incoherent operations and the convexity under the mixing of the quantum states. Differing from most of the pure axiomatic methods, quantifying quantum coherence by QFI could be experimentally testable, as the bound of the QFI is practically measurable. The validity of our proposal is specifically demonstrated with the typical phase-damping and depolarizing evolution processes of a generic single-qubit state, and also by comparing it with the other quantifying methods proposed previously.

  13. Non-commutative methods in quantum mechanics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Millard, Andrew Clive

    1997-09-01

    Non-commutativity appears in physics almost hand in hand with quantum mechanics. Non-commuting operators corresponding to observables lead to Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, which is often used as a prime example of how quantum mechanics transcends 'common sense', while the operators that generate a symmetry group are usually given in terms of their commutation relations. This thesis discusses a number of new developments which go beyond the usual stopping point of non-commuting quantities as matrices with complex elements. Chapter 2 shows how certain generalisations of quantum mechanics, from using complex numbers to using other (often non-commutative) algebras, can still be written as linear systems with symplectic phase flows. Chapter 3 deals with Adler's trace dynamics, a non-linear graded generalisation of Hamiltonian dynamics with supersymmetry applications, where the phase space coordinates are (generally non-commuting) operators, and reports on aspects of a demonstration that the statistical averages of the dynamical variables obey the rules of complex quantum field theory. The last two chapters discuss specific aspects of quaternionic quantum mechanics. Chapter 4 reports a generalised projective representation theory and presents a structure theorem that categorises quaternionic projective representations. Chapter 5 deals with a generalisation of the coherent states formalism and examines how it may be applied to two commonly used groups.

  14. Synthesis and characterization of graphene quantum dots-silver nanocomposites

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vandana, M.; Ashokkumar, S. P.; Vijeth, H.; Niranjana, M.; Yesappa, L.; Devendrappa, H.

    2018-04-01

    A facile microwave assisted hydrothermal method is used to synthesise glucose derived water soluble crystalline graphene quantum dots (GQDs) andcitrate reduction method was used to synthesized silver nanoparticles (SNPs). The formation of graphene quantum dots-silver nanocomposites (GSC) was synthesized through a simple refluxing process and characterised using Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) to study the chemical interaction, Surface morphology using FESEM, Optical properties were studied using UV-Visible spectroscopy. The absorption band shows at 249, 306 and 447 nm confirms the formation of GQDs and GSC. The electrochemical performance of GSC tested to determine the oxidation/reduction processes by cyclic voltammetry and linear sweep voltammetry.

  15. Protein structure refinement using a quantum mechanics-based chemical shielding predictor† †Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c6sc04344e Click here for additional data file.

    PubMed Central

    2017-01-01

    The accurate prediction of protein chemical shifts using a quantum mechanics (QM)-based method has been the subject of intense research for more than 20 years but so far empirical methods for chemical shift prediction have proven more accurate. In this paper we show that a QM-based predictor of a protein backbone and CB chemical shifts (ProCS15, PeerJ, 2016, 3, e1344) is of comparable accuracy to empirical chemical shift predictors after chemical shift-based structural refinement that removes small structural errors. We present a method by which quantum chemistry based predictions of isotropic chemical shielding values (ProCS15) can be used to refine protein structures using Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulations, relating the chemical shielding values to the experimental chemical shifts probabilistically. Two kinds of MCMC structural refinement simulations were performed using force field geometry optimized X-ray structures as starting points: simulated annealing of the starting structure and constant temperature MCMC simulation followed by simulated annealing of a representative ensemble structure. Annealing of the CHARMM structure changes the CA-RMSD by an average of 0.4 Å but lowers the chemical shift RMSD by 1.0 and 0.7 ppm for CA and N. Conformational averaging has a relatively small effect (0.1–0.2 ppm) on the overall agreement with carbon chemical shifts but lowers the error for nitrogen chemical shifts by 0.4 ppm. If an amino acid specific offset is included the ProCS15 predicted chemical shifts have RMSD values relative to experiments that are comparable to popular empirical chemical shift predictors. The annealed representative ensemble structures differ in CA-RMSD relative to the initial structures by an average of 2.0 Å, with >2.0 Å difference for six proteins. In four of the cases, the largest structural differences arise in structurally flexible regions of the protein as determined by NMR, and in the remaining two cases, the large

  16. Remote Chemical Sensing Using Quantum Cascade Lasers

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Harper, Warren W.; Schultz, John F.

    2003-01-30

    Spectroscopic chemical sensing research at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is focused on developing advanced sensors for detecting the production of nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons; use of chemical weapons; or the presence of explosives, firearms, narcotics, or other contraband of significance to homeland security in airports, cargo terminals, public buildings, or other sensitive locations. For most of these missions, the signature chemicals are expected to occur in very low concentrations, and in mixture with ambient air or airborne waste streams that contain large numbers of other species that may interfere with spectroscopic detection, or be mistaken for signatures ofmore » illicit activity. PNNL’s emphasis is therefore on developing remote and sampling sensors with extreme sensitivity, and resistance to interferents, or selectivity. PNNL’s research activities include: 1. Identification of signature chemicals and quantification of their spectral characteristics, 2. Identification and development of laser and other technologies that enable breakthroughs in sensitivity and selectivity, 3. Development of promising sensing techniques through experimentation and modeling the physical phenomenology and practical engineering limitations affecting their performance, and 4. Development and testing of data collection methods and analysis algorithms. Close coordination of all aspects of the research is important to ensure that all parts are focused on productive avenues of investigation. Close coordination of experimental development and numerical modeling is particularly important because the theoretical component provides understanding and predictive capability, while the experiments validate calculations and ensure that all phenomena and engineering limitations are considered.« less

  17. Effective numerical method of spectral analysis of quantum graphs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Barrera-Figueroa, Víctor; Rabinovich, Vladimir S.

    2017-05-01

    We present in the paper an effective numerical method for the determination of the spectra of periodic metric graphs equipped by Schrödinger operators with real-valued periodic electric potentials as Hamiltonians and with Kirchhoff and Neumann conditions at the vertices. Our method is based on the spectral parameter power series method, which leads to a series representation of the dispersion equation, which is suitable for both analytical and numerical calculations. Several important examples demonstrate the effectiveness of our method for some periodic graphs of interest that possess potentials usually found in quantum mechanics.

  18. Intramolecular hydrogen bonding in myricetin and myricitrin. Quantum chemical calculations and vibrational spectroscopy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vojta, Danijela; Dominković, Katarina; Miljanić, Snežana; Spanget-Larsen, Jens

    2017-03-01

    The molecular structures of myricetin (3,3‧,4‧,5,5‧,7-hexahydroxyflavone; MCE) and myricitrin (myricetin 3-O-rhamnoside; MCI) are investigated by quantum chemical calculations (B3LYP/6-311G**). Two preferred molecular rotamers of MCI are predicted, corresponding to different conformations of the O-rhamnoside subunit. The rotamers are characterized by different hydrogen bonded cross-links between the hydroxy groups of the rhamnoside substituent and the parent MCE moiety. The predicted OH stretching frequencies are compared with vibrational spectra of MCE and MCI recorded for the sake of this investigation (IR and Raman). In addition, a reassignment of the Cdbnd O stretching bands is suggested.

  19. Wavy carbon: A new series of carbon structures explored by quantum chemical calculations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ohno, Koichi; Satoh, Hiroko; Iwamoto, Takeaki; Tokoyama, Hiroaki; Yamakado, Hideo

    2015-10-01

    A new carbon family adopting wavy structures has been found by quantum chemical calculations. The key motif of this family is a condensed four-membered ring. Periodically wavy-carbon sheets (wavy-Cn sheets, n = 2, 6, and 8) as well as wavy-C36 tube were found to be very similar to the previously reported prism-Cn carbon tubes (n = 5, 6, and 8) in several respects, including the relative energies per one carbon atom with respect to graphene, CC bond lengths, and CCC bond angles. Because of very high relative energies with respect to graphene (206-253 kJ mol-1), the wavy-carbons may behave as energy reserving materials.

  20. Molecular structure and conformations of para-methylbenzene sulfonamide and ortho-methylbenzene sulfonamide: gas electron diffraction and quantum chemical calculations study.

    PubMed

    Petrov, Vjacheslav M; Girichev, Georgiy V; Oberhammer, Heinz; Petrova, Valentina N; Giricheva, Nina I; Bardina, Anna V; Ivanov, Sergey N

    2008-04-03

    The molecular structure and conformational properties of para-methylbenzene sulfonamide (4-MBSA) and ortho-methylbenzene sulfonamide (2-MBSA) have been studied by gas electron diffraction (GED) and quantum chemical methods (B3LYP/6-311+G** and MP2/6-31G**). Quantum chemical calculations predict the existence of two conformers for 4-MBSA with the S-N bond perpendicular to the benzene plane and the NH2 group either eclipsing or staggering the S-O bonds of the SO2 group. Both conformers possess CS symmetry. The eclipsed form is predicted to be favored by DeltaE = 0.63 kcal/mol (B3LYP) or 1.00 kcal/mol (MP2). According to the calculations, the S-N bond in 2-MBSA can possess planar direction opposite the methyl group (phi(C2C1SN) = 180 degrees ) or nonplanar direction (phi(C2C1SN) approximately 60 degrees ). In both cases, the NH2 group can adopt eclipsed or staggered orientation, resulting in a total of four stable conformers. The nonplanar eclipsed conformer (C1 symmetry) and the planar eclipsed form (CS symmetry) are predicted to be favored. According to the GED analysis, the saturated vapor over solid 4-MBSA at T = 151(3) degrees C consists as mixture of the eclipsed (78(19) %) and staggered (22(19) %) forms. The saturated vapor over solid 2-MBSA at T = 157(3) degrees C consists as a mixture of the nonplanar eclipsed (69(11) %) and planar eclipsed (31(11) %) forms.

  1. Quantum chemical modeling of the inhibition mechanism of monoamine oxidase by oxazolidinone and analogous heterocyclic compounds.

    PubMed

    Erdem, Safiye Sağ; Özpınar, Gül Altınbaş; Boz, Ümüt

    2014-02-01

    Monoamine oxidase (MAO, EC 1.4.3.4) is responsible from the oxidation of a variety of amine neurotransmitters. MAO inhibitors are used for the treatment of depression or Parkinson's disease. They also inhibit the catabolism of dietary amines. According to one hypothesis, inactivation results from the formation of a covalent adduct to a cysteine residue in the enzyme. If the adduct is stable enough, the enzyme is inhibited for a long time. After a while, enzyme can turn to its active form as a result of adduct breakdown by β-elimination. In this study, the proposed inactivation mechanism was modeled and tested by quantum chemical calculations. Eight heterocyclic methylthioamine derivatives were selected to represent the proposed covalent adducts. Activation energies related to their β-elimination reactions were calculated using ab initio and density functional theory methods. Calculated activation energies were in good agreement with the relative stabilities of the hypothetical adducts predicted in the literature by enzyme inactivation measurements.

  2. X-ray diffraction, vibrational and quantum chemical investigations of 2-methyl-4-nitroanilinium trichloroacetate trichloroacetic acid.

    PubMed

    Arjunan, V; Marchewka, Mariusz K; Pietraszko, A; Kalaivani, M

    2012-11-01

    The structural investigations of the molecular complex of 2-methyl-4-nitroaniline with trichloroacetic acid, namely 2-methyl-4-nitroanilinium trichloroacetate trichloroacetic acid (C(11)H(10)Cl(6)N(2)O(6)) have been performed by means of single crystal and powder X-ray diffraction method. The complex was formed with accompanying proton transfer from trichloroacetic acid molecule to 2-methyl-4-nitroaniline. The studied crystal is built up of singly protonated 2-methyl-4-nitroanilinium cations, trichloroacetate anions and neutral trichloroacetic acid molecules. The crystals are monoclinic, space group P2(1)/c, with a=14.947Å, b=6.432Å, c=19.609Å and Z=4. The vibrational assignments and analysis of 2-methyl-4-nitroanilinium trichloroacetate trichloroacetic acid have also been performed by FTIR, FT-Raman and far-infrared spectral studies. More support on the experimental findings were added from the quantum chemical studies performed with DFT (B3LYP) method using 6-31G, cc-pVDZ, 6-31G and 6-31++G basis sets. The structural parameters, energies, thermodynamic parameters and the NBO charges of 2M4NATCA were also determined by the DFT methods. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. Quantum Chemical Molecular Dynamics Simulations of 1,3-Dichloropropene Combustion.

    PubMed

    Ahubelem, Nwakamma; Shah, Kalpit; Moghtaderi, Behdad; Page, Alister J

    2015-09-03

    Oxidative decomposition of 1,3-dichloropropene was investigated using quantum chemical molecular dynamics (QM/MD) at 1500 and 3000 K. Thermal oxidation of 1,3-dichloropropene was initiated by (1) abstraction of allylic H/Cl by O2 and (2) intra-annular C-Cl bond scission and elimination of allylic Cl. A kinetic analysis shows that (2) is the more dominant initiation pathway, in agreement with QM/MD results. These QM/MD simulations reveal new routes to the formation of major products (H2O, CO, HCl, CO2), which are propagated primarily by the chloroperoxy (ClO2), OH, and 1,3-dichloropropene derived radicals. In particular, intra-annular C-C/C-H bond dissociation reactions of intermediate aldehydes/ketones are shown to play a dominant role in the formation of CO and CO2. Our simulations demonstrate that both combustion temperature and radical concentration can influence the product yield, however not the combustion mechanism.

  4. Fabrication of nanoscale heterostructures comprised of graphene-encapsulated gold nanoparticles and semiconducting quantum dots for photocatalysis.

    PubMed

    Li, Yuan; Chopra, Nitin

    2015-05-21

    Patterned growth of multilayer graphene shell encapsulated gold nanoparticles (GNPs) and their covalent linking with inorganic quantum dots are demonstrated. GNPs were grown using a xylene chemical vapor deposition process, where the surface oxidized gold nanoparticles catalyze the multilayer graphene shell growth in a single step process. The graphene shell encapsulating gold nanoparticles could be further functionalized with carboxylic groups, which were covalently linked to amine-terminated quantum dots resulting in GNP-quantum dot heterostructures. The compositions, morphologies, crystallinity, and surface functionalization of GNPs and their heterostructures with quantum dots were evaluated using microscopic, spectroscopic, and analytical methods. Furthermore, optical properties of the derived architectures were studied using both experimental methods and simulations. Finally, GNP-quantum dot heterostructures were studied for photocatalytic degradation of phenol.

  5. Non-unitary probabilistic quantum computing circuit and method

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Williams, Colin P. (Inventor); Gingrich, Robert M. (Inventor)

    2009-01-01

    A quantum circuit performing quantum computation in a quantum computer. A chosen transformation of an initial n-qubit state is probabilistically obtained. The circuit comprises a unitary quantum operator obtained from a non-unitary quantum operator, operating on an n-qubit state and an ancilla state. When operation on the ancilla state provides a success condition, computation is stopped. When operation on the ancilla state provides a failure condition, computation is performed again on the ancilla state and the n-qubit state obtained in the previous computation, until a success condition is obtained.

  6. The many-body Wigner Monte Carlo method for time-dependent ab-initio quantum simulations

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Sellier, J.M., E-mail: jeanmichel.sellier@parallel.bas.bg; Dimov, I.

    2014-09-15

    The aim of ab-initio approaches is the simulation of many-body quantum systems from the first principles of quantum mechanics. These methods are traditionally based on the many-body Schrödinger equation which represents an incredible mathematical challenge. In this paper, we introduce the many-body Wigner Monte Carlo method in the context of distinguishable particles and in the absence of spin-dependent effects. Despite these restrictions, the method has several advantages. First of all, the Wigner formalism is intuitive, as it is based on the concept of a quasi-distribution function. Secondly, the Monte Carlo numerical approach allows scalability on parallel machines that is practicallymore » unachievable by means of other techniques based on finite difference or finite element methods. Finally, this method allows time-dependent ab-initio simulations of strongly correlated quantum systems. In order to validate our many-body Wigner Monte Carlo method, as a case study we simulate a relatively simple system consisting of two particles in several different situations. We first start from two non-interacting free Gaussian wave packets. We, then, proceed with the inclusion of an external potential barrier, and we conclude by simulating two entangled (i.e. correlated) particles. The results show how, in the case of negligible spin-dependent effects, the many-body Wigner Monte Carlo method provides an efficient and reliable tool to study the time-dependent evolution of quantum systems composed of distinguishable particles.« less

  7. General Method for Constructing Local Hidden Variable Models for Entangled Quantum States

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cavalcanti, D.; Guerini, L.; Rabelo, R.; Skrzypczyk, P.

    2016-11-01

    Entanglement allows for the nonlocality of quantum theory, which is the resource behind device-independent quantum information protocols. However, not all entangled quantum states display nonlocality. A central question is to determine the precise relation between entanglement and nonlocality. Here we present the first general test to decide whether a quantum state is local, and show that the test can be implemented by semidefinite programing. This method can be applied to any given state and for the construction of new examples of states with local hidden variable models for both projective and general measurements. As applications, we provide a lower-bound estimate of the fraction of two-qubit local entangled states and present new explicit examples of such states, including those that arise from physical noise models, Bell-diagonal states, and noisy Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger and W states.

  8. Transport Studies of Quantum Magnetism: Physics and Methods

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Lee, Minhyea

    The main goal of this project was to understand novel ground states of spin systems probed by thermal and electrical transport measurements. They are well-suited to characterize the nature of low-energy excitations as unique property of the ground state. More specifically, it was aimed to study the transverse electrical conductivity in the presence of non-collinear and non-coplanar spin ordering and the effects of gauge field as well as novel spin excitations as a coherent heat transport channel in insulating quantum magnets. Most of works done during the grant period focused on these topics. As a natural extension of the project'smore » initial goals, the scope was broadened to include transport studies on the spin systems with strong spin-orbit coupling. One particular focus was an exploration of systems with strong magnetic anisotropy combined with non-trivial spin configuration. Magnetic anisotropy is directly related to implement the non-collinear spin ordering to the existing common geometry of planar devices and thus poses a significant potential. Work in this direction includes the comparison of the topological Hall signal under hydrostatic pressure and chemical doping, as well as the angular dependence dependence of the non-collinear spin ordered phase and their evolution up on temperature and field strength. Another focus was centered around the experimental identification of spin-originated heat carrying excitation in quasi two dimensional honeycomb lattice, where Kitaev type of quantum spin liquid phase is expected to emerge. In fact, when its long range magnetic order is destroyed by the applied field, we discovered anomalously large enhancement of thermal conductivity, for which proximate Kitaev excitations in field-induced spin liquid state are responsible for. This work, combined with further investigations in materials in the similar class may help establish the experimental characterization of new quantum spin liquid and their unique low energy

  9. A multiple-scattering polaritonic-operator method for hybrid arrays of metal nanoparticles and quantum emitters

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chatzidakis, Georgios D.; Yannopapas, Vassilios

    2018-05-01

    We present a new technique for the study of hybrid collections of quantum emitters (atoms, molecules, quantum dots) with nanoparticles. The technique is based on a multiple-scattering polaritonic-operator formalism in conjunction with an electromagnetic coupled dipole method. Apart from collections of quantum emitters and nanoparticles, the method can equally treat the interaction of a collection of quantum emitters with a single nano-object of arbitrary shape in which case the nano-object is treated as a finite three-dimensional lattice of point scatterers. We have applied our method to the case of linear array (chain) of dimers of quantum emitters and metallic nanoparticles wherein the corresponding (geometrical and physical) parameters of the dimers are chosen so as the interaction between the emitter and the nanoparticle lies in the strong-coupling regime in order to enable the formation of plexciton states in the dimer. In particular, for a linear chain of dimers, we show that the corresponding light spectra reveal a multitude of plexciton modes resulting from the hybridization of the plexciton resonances of each individual dimer in a manner similar to the tight-binding description of electrons in solids.

  10. Computations and interpretations: The growth of quantum chemistry, 1927-1967

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Park, Buhm Soon

    1999-10-01

    This dissertation is a contribution to the historical study of scientific disciplines in the twentieth century. It seeks to examine the development of quantum chemistry during the four decades after its inception in 1927. This development was manifest in theories, tools, scientists, and institutions, all of which constituted the disciplinary identity of quantum chemistry. To characterize its identity, I deal with the origins of key ideas and concepts; the change of computational tools from desk calculators to digital computers; the formation of a network among research groups and individuals; and the institutionalization of annual meetings. The dissertation's thesis is three-fold. First, in the pre- World War II years, there were individual contributions to the development of theories in quantum chemistry, but the founding fathers worked in their disciplinary contexts of physics or chemistry with little interest in building a quantum chemistry community. Second, the introduction of electronic digital computers in the postwar years affected the resurgence of the ab initio approach-the attempt to solve the Schrödinger equation without recourse to empirical data-and also the emergence of a community of quantum chemists. But the use of computers did not give rise to a consensus over the aims, methods, or content of the discipline. Third, quantum chemistry exerted a significant influence upon the transformation of chemical education and research in general, thanks to ``chemical translators,'' who sought to explain the gist of quantum chemistry in a language that chemists could understand. In sum, quantum chemistry has been a discipline characterized by diverse traditions, and the whole of chemistry has been under the influence of computations and interpretations made by quantum chemists.

  11. Nuclear quantum effects and kinetic isotope effects in enzyme reactions.

    PubMed

    Vardi-Kilshtain, Alexandra; Nitoker, Neta; Major, Dan Thomas

    2015-09-15

    Enzymes are extraordinarily effective catalysts evolved to perform well-defined and highly specific chemical transformations. Studying the nature of rate enhancements and the mechanistic strategies in enzymes is very important, both from a basic scientific point of view, as well as in order to improve rational design of biomimetics. Kinetic isotope effect (KIE) is a very important tool in the study of chemical reactions and has been used extensively in the field of enzymology. Theoretically, the prediction of KIEs in condensed phase environments such as enzymes is challenging due to the need to include nuclear quantum effects (NQEs). Herein we describe recent progress in our group in the development of multi-scale simulation methods for the calculation of NQEs and accurate computation of KIEs. We also describe their application to several enzyme systems. In particular we describe the use of combined quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) methods in classical and quantum simulations. The development of various novel path-integral methods is reviewed. These methods are tailor suited to enzyme systems, where only a few degrees of freedom involved in the chemistry need to be quantized. The application of the hybrid QM/MM quantum-classical simulation approach to three case studies is presented. The first case involves the proton transfer in alanine racemase. The second case presented involves orotidine 5'-monophosphate decarboxylase where multidimensional free energy simulations together with kinetic isotope effects are combined in the study of the reaction mechanism. Finally, we discuss the proton transfer in nitroalkane oxidase, where the enzyme employs tunneling as a catalytic fine-tuning tool. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. The role of NH3 and hydrocarbon mixtures in GaN pseudo-halide CVD: a quantum chemical study.

    PubMed

    Gadzhiev, Oleg B; Sennikov, Peter G; Petrov, Alexander I; Kachel, Krzysztof; Golka, Sebastian; Gogova, Daniela; Siche, Dietmar

    2014-11-01

    The prospects of a control for a novel gallium nitride pseudo-halide vapor phase epitaxy (PHVPE) with HCN were thoroughly analyzed for hydrocarbons-NH3-Ga gas phase on the basis of quantum chemical investigation with DFT (B3LYP, B3LYP with D3 empirical correction on dispersion interaction) and ab-initio (CASSCF, coupled clusters, and multireference configuration interaction including MRCI+Q) methods. The computational screening of reactions for different hydrocarbons (CH4, C2H6, C3H8, C2H4, and C2H2) as readily available carbon precursors for HCN formation, potential chemical transport agents, and for controlled carbon doping of deposited GaN was carried out with the B3LYP method in conjunction with basis sets up to aug-cc-pVTZ. The gas phase intermediates for the reactions in the Ga-hydrocarbon systems were predicted at different theory levels. The located π-complexes Ga…C2H2 and Ga…C2H4 were studied to determine a probable catalytic activity in reactions with NH3. A limited influence of the carbon-containing atmosphere was exhibited for the carbon doping of GaN crystal in the conventional GaN chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process with hydrocarbons injected in the gas phase. Our results provide a basis for experimental studies of GaN crystal growth with C2H4 and C2H2 as auxiliary carbon reagents for the Ga-NH3 and Ga-C-NH3 CVD systems and prerequisites for reactor design to enhance and control the PHVPE process through the HCN synthesis.

  13. Mixed quantum-classical studies of energy partitioning in unimolecular chemical reactions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bladow, Landon Lowell

    A mixed quantum-classical reaction path Hamiltonian method is utilized to study the dynamics of unimolecular reactions. The method treats motion along the reaction path classically and treats the transverse vibrations quantum mechanically. The theory leads to equations that predict the disposai of the exit-channel potential energy to product translation and vibration. In addition, vibrational state distributions are obtained for the product normal modes. Vibrational excitation results from the curvature of the minimum energy reaction path. The method is applied to six unimolecular reactions: HF elimination from fluoroethane, 1,1-difluoroethane, 1,1-difluoroethene, and trifluoromethane; and HCl elimination from chloroethane and acetyl chloride. The minimum energy paths were calculated at either the MP2 or B3LYP level of theory. In all cases, the majority of the vibrational excitation of the products occurs in the HX fragment. The results are compared to experimental data and other theoretical results, where available. The best agreement between the experimental and calculated HX vibrational distributions is found for the halogenated ethanes, and the experimental deduction that the majority of the HX vibrational excitation arises from the potential energy release is supported. It is believed that the excess energy provided in experiments contributes to the poorer agreement between experiment and theory observed for HF elimination from 1,1-difluoroethene and trifluoromethane. An attempt is described to incorporate a treatment of the excess energy into the present method. However, the sign of the curvature coupling elements is then found to affect the dynamics. Overall, the method appears to be an efficient dynamical tool for modeling the disposal of the exit-channel potential energy in unimolecular reactions.

  14. Standoff detection of turbulent chemical mixture plumes using a swept external cavity quantum cascade laser

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Phillips, Mark C.; Brumfield, Brian E.

    We demonstrate standoff detection of turbulent mixed-chemical plumes using a broadly-tunable external cavity quantum cascade laser (ECQCL). The ECQCL was directed through plumes of mixed methanol/ethanol vapor to a partially-reflective surface located 10 m away. The reflected power was measured as the ECQCL was swept over its tuning range of 930-1065 cm-1 (9.4-10.8 µm) at rates up to 200 Hz. Analysis of the transmission spectra though the plume was performed to determine chemical concentrations with time resolution of 0.005 s. Comparison of multiple spectral sweep rates of 2 Hz, 20 Hz, and 200 Hz shows that higher sweep rates reducemore » effects of atmospheric and source turbulence, resulting in lower detection noise and more accurate measurement of the rapidly-changing chemical concentrations. Detection sensitivities of 0.13 ppm*m for MeOH and 1.2 ppm*m for EtOH are demonstrated for a 200 Hz spectral sweep rate, normalized to 1 s detection time.« less

  15. On the origin of the gauche effect. A quantum chemical study of 1,2-difluoroethane

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Engkvist, O.; Karlström, G.; Widmark, P.-O.

    1997-01-01

    The conformational equilibrium of 1,2-difluoroethane has been investigated using ab initio quantum chemical calculations at the SCF, MP2 and CCSD(T) levels, with ANO basis sets. The relative stability of the gauche-conformation of 1,2-difluoroethane is found to be a consequence of the nodal structure of the singly occupied orbital in the CFH 2 radical. It is also shown that the nodal structure of the singly occupied orbitals in the CFH biradical can explain the stability of the cis conformation of 1,2-difluoroethene.

  16. Chemical bonding in TiSb(2) and VSb(2): a quantum chemical and experimental study.

    PubMed

    Armbrüster, Marc; Schnelle, Walter; Schwarz, Ulrich; Grin, Yuri

    2007-08-06

    The chemical bonding in the isostructural intermetallic compounds TiSb2 and VSb2, crystallizing in the CuAl2 type, was investigated by means of quantum chemical calculations, particularly the electron localization function (ELF), as well as by Raman spectroscopy, Hall effect and conductivity measurements on oriented single crystals, and high-pressure X-ray powder diffraction. The homogeneity ranges of the compounds were determined by powder X-ray diffraction, WDXS, and DSC measurements. TiSb2 exhibits no significant homogeneity range, while VSb2 shows a small homogeneity range of approximately 0.3 at. %. According to the ELF calculations, the Sb atoms form dumbbells via a two-center two-electron bond, while the T atoms (T = Ti, V) build up chains along the crystallographic c-axis. Both building units are connected by covalent T-Sb-T three-center bonds, thus forming a three-dimensional network. The strength of the bonds involving Sb was determined by fitting a force constant model to the vibrational mode frequencies observed by polarized Raman measurements on oriented single crystals. The resulting bond order of the Sb2 dumbbells is 1, while the strength of the three-center bonds resembles a bond order of 1.5. The weak pressure dependence of the c/a ratio confirms the slightly different bonding picture in TiSb2 compared to that in CuAl2. Electrical transport measurements show the presence of free charge carriers, as well as a metal-like temperature dependence of the electrical resistivity.

  17. Time-Resolved Quantum Cascade Laser Absorption Spectroscopy of Pulsed Plasma Assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition Processes Containing BCl3

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lang, Norbert; Hempel, Frank; Strämke, Siegfried; Röpcke, Jürgen

    2011-08-01

    In situ measurements are reported giving insight into the plasma chemical conversion of the precursor BCl3 in industrial applications of boriding plasmas. For the online monitoring of its ground state concentration, quantum cascade laser absorption spectroscopy (QCLAS) in the mid-infrared spectral range was applied in a plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition (PACVD) reactor. A compact quantum cascade laser measurement and control system (Q-MACS) was developed to allow a flexible and completely dust-sealed optical coupling to the reactor chamber of an industrial plasma surface modification system. The process under the study was a pulsed DC plasma with periodically injected BCl3 at 200 Pa. A synchronization of the Q-MACS with the process control unit enabled an insight into individual process cycles with a sensitivity of 10-6 cm-1·Hz-1/2. Different fragmentation rates of the precursor were found during an individual process cycle. The detected BCl3 concentrations were in the order of 1014 molecules·cm-3. The reported results of in situ monitoring with QCLAS demonstrate the potential for effective optimization procedures in industrial PACVD processes.

  18. Chemical and quantum simulation of electron transfer through a polypeptide

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Ungar, L.W.; Voth, G.A.; Newton, M.D.

    1999-08-26

    Quantum rate theory, molecular dynamics simulations, and semiempirical electronic structure calculations are used to fully investigate electron transfer mediated by a solvated polypeptide for the first time. Using a stationary-phase approximation, the nonadiabatic electron-transfer rate constant is calculated from the nuclear free energies and the electronic coupling between the initial and final states. The former are obtained from quantum path integral and classical molecular dynamics simulations; the latter are calculated using semiempirical electronic structure calculations and the generalized Mulliken-Hush method. Importantly, no parameters are fit to kinetic data. The simulated system consists of a solvated four-proline polypeptide with a tris(bipyridine)rutheniummore » donor group and an oxypentamminecobalt acceptor group. From the simulation data entropy and energy contributions to the free energies are distinguished. Quantum suppression of the barrier, including important solvent contributions, is demonstrated. Although free energy profiles along the reaction coordinate are nearly parabolic, pronounced departures from harmonic behavior are found for the separate energy and entropy functions. Harmonic models of the system are compared to simulation results in order to quantify anharmonic effects. Electronic structure calculations show that electronic coupling elements vary considerably with system conformation, even when the effective donor-acceptor separation remains roughly constant. The calculations indicate that electron transfer in a significant range of conformations linking the polypeptide to the acceptor may contribute to the overall rate constant. After correction for limitations of the solvent model, the simulations and calculations agree well with the experimental activation energy and Arrhenius prefactor.« less

  19. DFT simulation, quantum chemical electronic structure, spectroscopic and structure-activity investigations of 4-acetylpyridine

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Atilgan, A.; Yurdakul, Ş.; Erdogdu, Y.; Güllüoğlu, M. T.

    2018-06-01

    The spectroscopic (UV-Vis and infrared), structural and some electronic property observations of the 4-acetylpyridine (4-AP) were reported, which are investigated by using some spectral methods and DFT calculations. FT-IR spectra were obtained for 4-AP at room temperature in the region 4000 cm-1- 400 cm-1. In the DFT calculations, the B3LYP functional with 6-311G++G(d,p) basis set was applied to carry out the quantum mechanical calculations. The Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) and FT-Raman spectra were interpreted by using of normal coordinate analysis based on scaled quantum mechanical force field. The present work expands our understanding of the both the vibrational and structural properties as well as some electronic properties of the 4-AP by means of the theoretical and experimental methods.

  20. New Quantum Diffusion Monte Carlo Method for strong field time dependent problems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kalinski, Matt

    2017-04-01

    We have recently formulated the Quantum Diffusion Quantum Monte Carlo (QDMC) method for the solution of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation when it is equivalent to the reaction-diffusion system coupled by the highly nonlinear potentials of the type of Shay. Here we formulate a new Time Dependent QDMC method free of the nonlinearities described by the constant stochastic process of the coupled diffusion with transmutation. As before two kinds of diffusing particles (color walkers) are considered but which can further also transmute one into the other. Each of the species undergoes the hypothetical Einstein random walk progression with transmutation. The progressed particles transmute into the particles of the other kind before contributing to or annihilating the other particles density. This fully emulates the Time Dependent Schrödinger equation for any number of quantum particles. The negative sign of the real and the imaginary parts of the wave function is handled by the ``spinor'' densities carrying the sign as the degree of freedom. We apply the method for the exact time-dependent observation of our discovered two-electron Langmuir configurations in the magnetic and circularly polarized fields.

  1. Adsorption, Thermodynamic and Quantum Chemical Studies of 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium Based Ionic Liquids as Corrosion Inhibitors for Mild Steel in HCl

    PubMed Central

    Mashuga, Motsie E.; Olasunkanmi, Lukman O.; Adekunle, Abolanle S.; Yesudass, Sasikumar; Kabanda, Mwadham M.; Ebenso, Eno E.

    2015-01-01

    The inhibition of mild steel corrosion in 1 M HCl solution by some ionic liquids (ILs) namely, 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium trifluoromethanesulfonate [HMIM][TfO], 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate [HMIM][BF4], 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate [HMIM][PF6], and 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium iodide [HMIM][I] was investigated using electrochemical measurements, spectroscopic analyses and quantum chemical calculations. All the ILs showed appreciably high inhibition efficiency. At 303 K, the results of electrochemical measurements indicated that the studied ILs are mixed-type inhibitors. The adsorption studies showed that all the four ILs adsorb spontaneously on steel surface with [HMIM][TfO], [HMIM][BF4] and [HMIM][I] obeying Langmuir adsorption isotherm, while [HMIM][PF6] conformed better with Temkin adsorption isotherm. Spectroscopic analyses suggested the formation of Fe/ILs complexes. Some quantum chemical parameters were calculated to corroborate experimental results.

  2. Use of statistical and neural net approaches in predicting toxicity of chemicals.

    PubMed

    Basak, S C; Grunwald, G D; Gute, B D; Balasubramanian, K; Opitz, D

    2000-01-01

    Hierarchical quantitative structure-activity relationships (H-QSAR) have been developed as a new approach in constructing models for estimating physicochemical, biomedicinal, and toxicological properties of interest. This approach uses increasingly more complex molecular descriptors in a graduated approach to model building. In this study, statistical and neural network methods have been applied to the development of H-QSAR models for estimating the acute aquatic toxicity (LC50) of 69 benzene derivatives to Pimephales promelas (fathead minnow). Topostructural, topochemical, geometrical, and quantum chemical indices were used as the four levels of the hierarchical method. It is clear from both the statistical and neural network models that topostructural indices alone cannot adequately model this set of congeneric chemicals. Not surprisingly, topochemical indices greatly increase the predictive power of both statistical and neural network models. Quantum chemical indices also add significantly to the modeling of this set of acute aquatic toxicity data.

  3. The application of quantum mechanics in structure-based drug design.

    PubMed

    Mucs, Daniel; Bryce, Richard A

    2013-03-01

    Computational chemistry has become an established and valuable component in structure-based drug design. However the chemical complexity of many ligands and active sites challenges the accuracy of the empirical potentials commonly used to describe these systems. Consequently, there is a growing interest in utilizing electronic structure methods for addressing problems in protein-ligand recognition. In this review, the authors discuss recent progress in the development and application of quantum chemical approaches to modeling protein-ligand interactions. The authors specifically consider the development of quantum mechanics (QM) approaches for studying large molecular systems pertinent to biology, focusing on protein-ligand docking, protein-ligand binding affinities and ligand strain on binding. Although computation of binding energies remains a challenging and evolving area, current QM methods can underpin improved docking approaches and offer detailed insights into ligand strain and into the nature and relative strengths of complex active site interactions. The authors envisage that QM will become an increasingly routine and valued tool of the computational medicinal chemist.

  4. Canonical methods in classical and quantum gravity: An invitation to canonical LQG

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Reyes, Juan D.

    2018-04-01

    Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) is a candidate quantum theory of gravity still under construction. LQG was originally conceived as a background independent canonical quantization of Einstein’s general relativity theory. This contribution provides some physical motivations and an overview of some mathematical tools employed in canonical Loop Quantum Gravity. First, Hamiltonian classical methods are reviewed from a geometric perspective. Canonical Dirac quantization of general gauge systems is sketched next. The Hamiltonian formultation of gravity in geometric ADM and connection-triad variables is then presented to finally lay down the canonical loop quantization program. The presentation is geared toward advanced undergradute or graduate students in physics and/or non-specialists curious about LQG.

  5. First-principles calculations of Ti and O NMR chemical shift tensors in ferroelectric perovskites

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pechkis, Daniel; Walter, Eric; Krakauer, Henry

    2011-03-01

    Complementary chemical shift calculations were carried out with embedded clusters, using quantum chemistry methods, and with periodic boundary conditions, using the GIPAW approach within the Quantum Espresso package. Compared to oxygen chemical shifts, δ̂ (O), cluster calculations for δ̂ (Ti) were found to be more sensitive to size effects, termination, and choice of gaussian-type atomic basis set, while GIPAW results were found to be more sensitive to the pseudopotential construction. The two approaches complemented each other in optimizing these factors. We show that the two approaches yield comparable chemical shifts for suitably converged simulations, and results are compared with available experimental measurements. Supported by ONR.

  6. Communication: On the consistency of approximate quantum dynamics simulation methods for vibrational spectra in the condensed phase.

    PubMed

    Rossi, Mariana; Liu, Hanchao; Paesani, Francesco; Bowman, Joel; Ceriotti, Michele

    2014-11-14

    Including quantum mechanical effects on the dynamics of nuclei in the condensed phase is challenging, because the complexity of exact methods grows exponentially with the number of quantum degrees of freedom. Efforts to circumvent these limitations can be traced down to two approaches: methods that treat a small subset of the degrees of freedom with rigorous quantum mechanics, considering the rest of the system as a static or classical environment, and methods that treat the whole system quantum mechanically, but using approximate dynamics. Here, we perform a systematic comparison between these two philosophies for the description of quantum effects in vibrational spectroscopy, taking the Embedded Local Monomer model and a mixed quantum-classical model as representatives of the first family of methods, and centroid molecular dynamics and thermostatted ring polymer molecular dynamics as examples of the latter. We use as benchmarks D2O doped with HOD and pure H2O at three distinct thermodynamic state points (ice Ih at 150 K, and the liquid at 300 K and 600 K), modeled with the simple q-TIP4P/F potential energy and dipole moment surfaces. With few exceptions the different techniques yield IR absorption frequencies that are consistent with one another within a few tens of cm(-1). Comparison with classical molecular dynamics demonstrates the importance of nuclear quantum effects up to the highest temperature, and a detailed discussion of the discrepancies between the various methods let us draw some (circumstantial) conclusions about the impact of the very different approximations that underlie them. Such cross validation between radically different approaches could indicate a way forward to further improve the state of the art in simulations of condensed-phase quantum dynamics.

  7. Molecular mechanism of NDMA formation from N,N-dimethylsulfamide during ozonation: quantum chemical insights into a bromide-catalyzed pathway.

    PubMed

    Trogolo, Daniela; Mishra, Brijesh Kumar; Heeb, Michèle B; von Gunten, Urs; Arey, J Samuel

    2015-04-07

    During ozonation of drinking water, the fungicide metabolite N,N-dimethylsulfamide (DMS) can be transformed into a highly toxic product, N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA). We used quantum chemical computations and stopped-flow experiments to evaluate a chemical mechanism proposed previously to describe this transformation. Stopped-flow experiments indicate a pK(a) = 10.4 for DMS. Experiments show that hypobromous acid (HOBr), generated by ozone oxidation of naturally occurring bromide, brominates the deprotonated DMS(-) anion with a near-diffusion controlled rate constant (7.1 ± 0.6 × 10(8) M(-1) s(-1)), forming Br-DMS(-) anion. According to quantum chemical calculations, Br-DMS has a pK(a) ∼ 9.0 and thus remains partially deprotonated at neutral pH. The anionic Br-DMS(-) bromamine can react with ozone with a high rate constant (10(5 ± 2.5) M(-1) s(-1)), forming the reaction intermediate (BrNO)(SO2)N(CH3)2(-). This intermediate resembles a loosely bound complex between an electrophilic nitrosyl bromide (BrNO) molecule and an electron-rich dimethylaminosulfinate ((SO2)N(CH3)2(-)) fragment, based on inspection of computed natural charges and geometric parameters. This fragile complex undergoes immediate (10(10 ± 2.5) s(-1)) reaction by two branches: an exothermic channel that produces NDMA, and an entropy-driven channel giving non-NDMA products. Computational results bring new insights into the electronic nature, chemical equilibria, and kinetics of the elementary reactions of this pathway, enabled by computed energies of structures that are not possible to access experimentally.

  8. Path Sampling Methods for Enzymatic Quantum Particle Transfer Reactions

    PubMed Central

    Dzierlenga, M.W.; Varga, M.J.

    2016-01-01

    The mechanisms of enzymatic reactions are studied via a host of computational techniques. While previous methods have been used successfully, many fail to incorporate the full dynamical properties of enzymatic systems. This can lead to misleading results in cases where enzyme motion plays a significant role in the reaction coordinate, which is especially relevant in particle transfer reactions where nuclear tunneling may occur. In this chapter, we outline previous methods, as well as discuss newly developed dynamical methods to interrogate mechanisms of enzymatic particle transfer reactions. These new methods allow for the calculation of free energy barriers and kinetic isotope effects (KIEs) with the incorporation of quantum effects through centroid molecular dynamics (CMD) and the full complement of enzyme dynamics through transition path sampling (TPS). Recent work, summarized in this chapter, applied the method for calculation of free energy barriers to reaction in lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and yeast alcohol dehydrogenase (YADH). It was found that tunneling plays an insignificant role in YADH but plays a more significant role in LDH, though not dominant over classical transfer. Additionally, we summarize the application of a TPS algorithm for the calculation of reaction rates in tandem with CMD to calculate the primary H/D KIE of YADH from first principles. It was found that the computationally obtained KIE is within the margin of error of experimentally determined KIEs, and corresponds to the KIE of particle transfer in the enzyme. These methods provide new ways to investigate enzyme mechanism with the inclusion of protein and quantum dynamics. PMID:27497161

  9. Microscopic origin of the fast blue-green luminescence of chemically synthesized non-oxidized silicon quantum dots.

    PubMed

    Dohnalová, Kateřina; Fučíková, Anna; Umesh, Chinnaswamy P; Humpolíčková, Jana; Paulusse, Jos M J; Valenta, Jan; Zuilhof, Han; Hof, Martin; Gregorkiewicz, Tom

    2012-10-22

    The microscopic origin of the bright nanosecond blue-green photoluminescence (PL), frequently reported for synthesized organically terminated Si quantum dots (Si-QDs), has not been fully resolved, hampering potential applications of this interesting material. Here a comprehensive study of the PL from alkyl-terminated Si-QDs of 2-3 nm size, prepared by wet chemical synthesis is reported. Results obtained on the ensemble and those from the single nano-object level are compared, and they provide conclusive evidence that efficient and tunable emission arises due to radiative recombination of electron-hole pairs confined in the Si-QDs. This understanding paves the way towards applications of chemical synthesis for the development of Si-QDs with tunable sizes and bandgaps. Copyright © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  10. Raman enhancement on ultra-clean graphene quantum dots produced by quasi-equilibrium plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition.

    PubMed

    Liu, Donghua; Chen, Xiaosong; Hu, Yibin; Sun, Tai; Song, Zhibo; Zheng, Yujie; Cao, Yongbin; Cai, Zhi; Cao, Min; Peng, Lan; Huang, Yuli; Du, Lei; Yang, Wuli; Chen, Gang; Wei, Dapeng; Wee, Andrew Thye Shen; Wei, Dacheng

    2018-01-15

    Graphene is regarded as a potential surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrate. However, the application of graphene quantum dots (GQDs) has had limited success due to material quality. Here, we develop a quasi-equilibrium plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition method to produce high-quality ultra-clean GQDs with sizes down to 2 nm directly on SiO 2 /Si, which are used as SERS substrates. The enhancement factor, which depends on the GQD size, is higher than conventional graphene sheets with sensitivity down to 1 × 10 -9  mol L -1 rhodamine. This is attributed to the high-quality GQDs with atomically clean surfaces and large number of edges, as well as the enhanced charge transfer between molecules and GQDs with appropriate diameters due to the existence of Van Hove singularities in the electronic density of states. This work demonstrates a sensitive SERS substrate, and is valuable for applications of GQDs in graphene-based photonics and optoelectronics.

  11. Simulating biochemical physics with computers: 1. Enzyme catalysis by phosphotriesterase and phosphodiesterase; 2. Integration-free path-integral method for quantum-statistical calculations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wong, Kin-Yiu

    We have simulated two enzymatic reactions with molecular dynamics (MD) and combined quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical (QM/MM) techniques. One reaction is the hydrolysis of the insecticide paraoxon catalyzed by phosphotriesterase (PTE). PTE is a bioremediation candidate for environments contaminated by toxic nerve gases (e.g., sarin) or pesticides. Based on the potential of mean force (PMF) and the structural changes of the active site during the catalysis, we propose a revised reaction mechanism for PTE. Another reaction is the hydrolysis of the second-messenger cyclic adenosine 3'-5'-monophosphate (cAMP) catalyzed by phosphodiesterase (PDE). Cyclicnucleotide PDE is a vital protein in signal-transduction pathways and thus a popular target for inhibition by drugs (e.g., ViagraRTM). A two-dimensional (2-D) free-energy profile has been generated showing that the catalysis by PDE proceeds in a two-step SN2-type mechanism. Furthermore, to characterize a chemical reaction mechanism in experiment, a direct probe is measuring kinetic isotope effects (KIEs). KIEs primarily arise from internuclear quantum-statistical effects, e.g., quantum tunneling and quantization of vibration. To systematically incorporate the quantum-statistical effects during MD simulations, we have developed an automated integration-free path-integral (AIF-PI) method based on Kleinert's variational perturbation theory for the centroid density of Feynman's path integral. Using this analytic method, we have performed ab initio pathintegral calculations to study the origin of KIEs on several series of proton-transfer reactions from carboxylic acids to aryl substituted alpha-methoxystyrenes in water. In addition, we also demonstrate that the AIF-PI method can be used to systematically compute the exact value of zero-point energy (beyond the harmonic approximation) by simply minimizing the centroid effective potential.

  12. Quantum junction solar cells.

    PubMed

    Tang, Jiang; Liu, Huan; Zhitomirsky, David; Hoogland, Sjoerd; Wang, Xihua; Furukawa, Melissa; Levina, Larissa; Sargent, Edward H

    2012-09-12

    Colloidal quantum dot solids combine convenient solution-processing with quantum size effect tuning, offering avenues to high-efficiency multijunction cells based on a single materials synthesis and processing platform. The highest-performing colloidal quantum dot rectifying devices reported to date have relied on a junction between a quantum-tuned absorber and a bulk material (e.g., TiO(2)); however, quantum tuning of the absorber then requires complete redesign of the bulk acceptor, compromising the benefits of facile quantum tuning. Here we report rectifying junctions constructed entirely using inherently band-aligned quantum-tuned materials. Realizing these quantum junction diodes relied upon the creation of an n-type quantum dot solid having a clean bandgap. We combine stable, chemically compatible, high-performance n-type and p-type materials to create the first quantum junction solar cells. We present a family of photovoltaic devices having widely tuned bandgaps of 0.6-1.6 eV that excel where conventional quantum-to-bulk devices fail to perform. Devices having optimal single-junction bandgaps exhibit certified AM1.5 solar power conversion efficiencies of 5.4%. Control over doping in quantum solids, and the successful integration of these materials to form stable quantum junctions, offers a powerful new degree of freedom to colloidal quantum dot optoelectronics.

  13. The molecular structure of 4-methylpyridine-N-oxide: Gas-phase electron diffraction and quantum chemical calculations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Belova, Natalya V.; Girichev, Georgiy V.; Kotova, Vitaliya E.; Korolkova, Kseniya A.; Trang, Nguyen Hoang

    2018-03-01

    The molecular structure of 4-methylpiridine-N-oxide, 4-MePyO, has been studied by gas-phase electron diffraction monitored by mass spectrometry (GED/MS) and quantum chemical (DFT) calculations. Both, quantum chemistry and GED analyses resulted in CS molecular symmetry with the planar pyridine ring. Obtained molecular parameters confirm the hyperconjugation in the pyridine ring and the sp2 hybridization concept of the nitrogen and carbon atoms in the ring. The experimental geometric parameters are in a good agreement with the parameters for non-substituted N-oxide and reproduced very closely by DFT calculations. The presence of the electron-donating CH3 substituent in 4-MePyO leads to a decrease of the ipso-angle and to an increase of r(N→O) in comparison with the non-substituted PyO. Electron density distribution analysis has been performed in terms of natural bond orbitals (NBO) scheme. The nature of the semipolar N→O bond is discussed.

  14. The IINS/quantum chemical studies of 17α- and 21-hydroxy-derivatives of progesterone

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Szyczewski, A.; Hołderna-Natkaniec, K.; Natkaniec, I.

    2003-05-01

    The inelastic incoherent neutron scattering and quantum chemical studies have been performed on 17 and 21 hydroxy progesterone and the assignment of internal modes have been proposed in the range up to 700 cm -1. The lattice branch of PDS reveals modes which could be attributed to torsions of rings A and D (cyclohexane and cyclopentane) of the pregnane skeleton. An assignment of the torsional vibrations of methyl groups in the range 150-300 cm -1 and the deformation and out-of plane vibrations of CCOH groups has been proposed. An analysis of the effect of hydrogen bonds on PDS spectra has been performed.

  15. Quantum realization of the bilinear interpolation method for NEQR.

    PubMed

    Zhou, Ri-Gui; Hu, Wenwen; Fan, Ping; Ian, Hou

    2017-05-31

    In recent years, quantum image processing is one of the most active fields in quantum computation and quantum information. Image scaling as a kind of image geometric transformation has been widely studied and applied in the classical image processing, however, the quantum version of which does not exist. This paper is concerned with the feasibility of the classical bilinear interpolation based on novel enhanced quantum image representation (NEQR). Firstly, the feasibility of the bilinear interpolation for NEQR is proven. Then the concrete quantum circuits of the bilinear interpolation including scaling up and scaling down for NEQR are given by using the multiply Control-Not operation, special adding one operation, the reverse parallel adder, parallel subtractor, multiplier and division operations. Finally, the complexity analysis of the quantum network circuit based on the basic quantum gates is deduced. Simulation result shows that the scaled-up image using bilinear interpolation is clearer and less distorted than nearest interpolation.

  16. Chemically differentiating ascorbate-mediated dissolution of quantum dots in cell culture media

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Su, Cheng-Kuan; Sun, Yuh-Chang

    2013-02-01

    To investigate the dynamic dissolution of quantum dots (QDs) in cell culture media, in this study we constructed an online automatic analytical system comprising a sequential in-tube solid phase extraction (SPE) device and an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) mass spectrometer. By means of selectively extracting QDs and cadmium ions (Cd2+) onto the interior surface of the polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) tube, this novel SPE device could be used to determine the degree of QD dissolution through a simple adjustment of sample acidity. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to exploit PTFE tubing as a selective SPE adsorbent for the online chemical differentiation of QDs and Cd2+ ions with the goal of monitoring the phenomenon of QD dissolution in complicated biological matrices. We confirmed the analytical reliability of this system through comparison of the measured Cd-to-QD ratios to the expected values. When analyzing QDs and Cd2+ ions at picomolar levels, a temporal resolution of 8 min was required to load sufficient amounts of the analytes to meet the sensitivity requirements of the ICP mass spectrometer. To demonstrate the practicability of this developed method, we measured the dynamic variations in the Cd-to-QD705 ratio in the presence of ascorbate as a physiological stimulant to generate reactive oxygen species in cell culture media and trigger the dissolution of QDs; our results suggest that the ascorbate-induced QD dissolution was dependent on the time, treatment concentration, and nature of the biomolecule.To investigate the dynamic dissolution of quantum dots (QDs) in cell culture media, in this study we constructed an online automatic analytical system comprising a sequential in-tube solid phase extraction (SPE) device and an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) mass spectrometer. By means of selectively extracting QDs and cadmium ions (Cd2+) onto the interior surface of the polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) tube, this novel SPE device could be

  17. Effect of electric field on RbCl quantum pseudodot qubit

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liang, Zhi-Hui; Xiao, Jing-Lin

    2018-04-01

    By employing the variational method of Pekar type, we study the effects of electric field on RbCl quantum pseudodot (QPD) qubits. Our results confirm that (1) the electron oscillates in the RbCl QPD with a certain period; (2) the electron's probability density is a raising function of electric field; (3) the oscillating frequency is an increasing one of the electric field and the two-dimensional electron gas chemical potential. Two ways are found for prolonging the lifetime of the qubit and suppressing the decoherence in the quantum information field.

  18. General method for extracting the quantum efficiency of dispersive qubit readout in circuit QED

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bultink, C. C.; Tarasinski, B.; Haandbæk, N.; Poletto, S.; Haider, N.; Michalak, D. J.; Bruno, A.; DiCarlo, L.

    2018-02-01

    We present and demonstrate a general three-step method for extracting the quantum efficiency of dispersive qubit readout in circuit QED. We use active depletion of post-measurement photons and optimal integration weight functions on two quadratures to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio of the non-steady-state homodyne measurement. We derive analytically and demonstrate experimentally that the method robustly extracts the quantum efficiency for arbitrary readout conditions in the linear regime. We use the proven method to optimally bias a Josephson traveling-wave parametric amplifier and to quantify different noise contributions in the readout amplification chain.

  19. Quantitative structure-activation barrier relationship modeling for Diels-Alder ligations utilizing quantum chemical structural descriptors.

    PubMed

    Nandi, Sisir; Monesi, Alessandro; Drgan, Viktor; Merzel, Franci; Novič, Marjana

    2013-10-30

    In the present study, we show the correlation of quantum chemical structural descriptors with the activation barriers of the Diels-Alder ligations. A set of 72 non-catalysed Diels-Alder reactions were subjected to quantitative structure-activation barrier relationship (QSABR) under the framework of theoretical quantum chemical descriptors calculated solely from the structures of diene and dienophile reactants. Experimental activation barrier data were obtained from literature. Descriptors were computed using Hartree-Fock theory using 6-31G(d) basis set as implemented in Gaussian 09 software. Variable selection and model development were carried out by stepwise multiple linear regression methodology. Predictive performance of the quantitative structure-activation barrier relationship (QSABR) model was assessed by training and test set concept and by calculating leave-one-out cross-validated Q2 and predictive R2 values. The QSABR model can explain and predict 86.5% and 80% of the variances, respectively, in the activation energy barrier training data. Alternatively, a neural network model based on back propagation of errors was developed to assess the nonlinearity of the sought correlations between theoretical descriptors and experimental reaction barriers. A reasonable predictability for the activation barrier of the test set reactions was obtained, which enabled an exploration and interpretation of the significant variables responsible for Diels-Alder interaction between dienes and dienophiles. Thus, studies in the direction of QSABR modelling that provide efficient and fast prediction of activation barriers of the Diels-Alder reactions turn out to be a meaningful alternative to transition state theory based computation.

  20. CdS/CdSe co-sensitized SnO2 photoelectrodes for quantum dots sensitized solar cells

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lin, Yibing; Lin, Yu; Meng, Yongming; Tu, Yongguang; Zhang, Xiaolong

    2015-07-01

    SnO2 nanoparticles were synthesized by hydrothermal method and applied to photo-electrodes of quantum dots-sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs). After sensitizing SnO2 films via CdS quantum dots, CdSe quantum dots was decorated on the surface of CdS/SnO2 photo-electrodes to further improve the power conversion efficiency. CdS and CdSe quantum dots were deposited by successive ionic layer absorption and reaction method (SILAR) and chemical bath deposition method (CBD) respectively. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to identify the surface profile and crystal structure of SnO2 photo-electrodes before and after deposited quantum dots. After CdSe co-sensitized process, an overall power conversion efficiency of 1.78% was obtained in CdSe/CdS/SnO2 QDSSC, which showed 66.4% improvement than that of CdS/SnO2 QDSSC.

  1. Toward the realization of a compact chemical sensor platform using quantum cascade lasers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Holthoff, Ellen L.; Marcus, Logan S.; Pellegrino, Paul M.

    2015-05-01

    The Army is investigating several spectroscopic techniques (e.g., infrared spectroscopy) that could allow for an adaptable sensor platform. Traditionally, chemical sensing platforms have been hampered by the opposing concerns of increasing sensor capability while maintaining a minimal package size. Current sensors, although reasonably sized, are geared to more classical chemical threats, and the ability to expand their capabilities to a broader range of emerging threats is uncertain. Recently, photoacoustic spectroscopy, employed in a sensor format, has shown enormous potential to address these ever-changing threats, while maintaining a compact sensor design. In order to realize the advantage of photoacoustic sensor miniaturization, light sources of comparable size are required. Recent research has employed quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) in combination with MEMS-scale photoacoustic cell designs. The continuous tuning capability of QCLs over a broad wavelength range in the mid-infrared spectral region greatly expands the number of compounds that can be identified. Results have demonstrated that utilizing a tunable QCL with a MEMS-scale photoacoustic cell produces favorable detection limits (ppb levels) for chemical targets (e.g., dimethyl methyl phosphonate (DMMP), vinyl acetate, 1,4-dioxane). Although our chemical sensing research has benefitted from the broad tuning capabilities of QCLs, the limitations of these sources must be considered. Current commercially available tunable systems are still expensive and obviously geared more toward laboratory operation, not fielding. Although the laser element itself is quite small, the packaging, power supply, and controller remain logistical burdens. Additionally, operational features such as continuous wave (CW) modulation and laser output powers while maintaining wide tunability are not yet ideal for a variety of sensing applications. In this paper, we will discuss our continuing evaluation of QCL technology as it matures

  2. Quantum interpolation for high-resolution sensing.

    PubMed

    Ajoy, Ashok; Liu, Yi-Xiang; Saha, Kasturi; Marseglia, Luca; Jaskula, Jean-Christophe; Bissbort, Ulf; Cappellaro, Paola

    2017-02-28

    Recent advances in engineering and control of nanoscale quantum sensors have opened new paradigms in precision metrology. Unfortunately, hardware restrictions often limit the sensor performance. In nanoscale magnetic resonance probes, for instance, finite sampling times greatly limit the achievable sensitivity and spectral resolution. Here we introduce a technique for coherent quantum interpolation that can overcome these problems. Using a quantum sensor associated with the nitrogen vacancy center in diamond, we experimentally demonstrate that quantum interpolation can achieve spectroscopy of classical magnetic fields and individual quantum spins with orders of magnitude finer frequency resolution than conventionally possible. Not only is quantum interpolation an enabling technique to extract structural and chemical information from single biomolecules, but it can be directly applied to other quantum systems for superresolution quantum spectroscopy.

  3. Theoretical calculations of physico-chemical and spectroscopic properties of bioinorganic systems: current limits and perspectives.

    PubMed

    Rokob, Tibor András; Srnec, Martin; Rulíšek, Lubomír

    2012-05-21

    In the last decade, we have witnessed substantial progress in the development of quantum chemical methodologies. Simultaneously, robust solvation models and various combined quantum and molecular mechanical (QM/MM) approaches have become an integral part of quantum chemical programs. Along with the steady growth of computer power and, more importantly, the dramatic increase of the computer performance to price ratio, this has led to a situation where computational chemistry, when exercised with the proper amount of diligence and expertise, reproduces, predicts, and complements the experimental data. In this perspective, we review some of the latest achievements in the field of theoretical (quantum) bioinorganic chemistry, concentrating mostly on accurate calculations of the spectroscopic and physico-chemical properties of open-shell bioinorganic systems by wave-function (ab initio) and DFT methods. In our opinion, the one-to-one mapping between the calculated properties and individual molecular structures represents a major advantage of quantum chemical modelling since this type of information is very difficult to obtain experimentally. Once (and only once) the physico-chemical, thermodynamic and spectroscopic properties of complex bioinorganic systems are quantitatively reproduced by theoretical calculations may we consider the outcome of theoretical modelling, such as reaction profiles and the various decompositions of the calculated parameters into individual spatial or physical contributions, to be reliable. In an ideal situation, agreement between theory and experiment may imply that the practical problem at hand, such as the reaction mechanism of the studied metalloprotein, can be considered as essentially solved.

  4. The Molecular Structure of Phenetole Studied by Microwave Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemical Calculations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ferres, Lynn; Stahl, Wolfgang; Nguyen, Ha Vinh Lam

    2016-06-01

    A pulsed molecular beam Fourier transform microwave spectrometer operating in the frequency range 2 - 26.5 GHz was used to measure the spectrum of phenetole (ethyl phenyl ether or ethoxybenzene, C6H5OC2H5). The conformational landscape is completely determined by the orientations of the phenyl ring and the ethyl group. A two-dimensional potential energy surface was calculated at the MP2/6-311++G(d,p) level of theory. Two conformers were found: The trans conformer has a Cs symmetry, and the gauche conformer has the ethyl group tilted out of the phenyl plane by about 70°. Totally 186 rotational transitions were assigned to the more stable planar trans conformer, and fitted using a semi-rigid rotor model to measurement accuracy of 2 kHz. Highly accurate rotational and centrifugal distortion constants were determined. Several method and basis set combinations were applied to check for convergence and to compare with the experimentally deduced molecular parameters. The inertial defect of the observed conformer Δc = (Ic - Ia - Ib) = -6.718 uÅ2 confirms that the heavy atom skeleton is planar with two pairs of hydrogen atoms out of plane. All lines in the spectrum could be assigned to the trans conformer, which confirms that the gauche conformer cannot be observed under our measurement conditions. In agreement with the rather high torsional barrier of the methyl group (V3 = 1168 wn) calculated by quantum chemical methods, all assigned lines appeared sharp and no signs of splittings were observed for the methyl internal rotation.

  5. Interfacing External Quantum Devices to a Universal Quantum Computer

    PubMed Central

    Lagana, Antonio A.; Lohe, Max A.; von Smekal, Lorenz

    2011-01-01

    We present a scheme to use external quantum devices using the universal quantum computer previously constructed. We thereby show how the universal quantum computer can utilize networked quantum information resources to carry out local computations. Such information may come from specialized quantum devices or even from remote universal quantum computers. We show how to accomplish this by devising universal quantum computer programs that implement well known oracle based quantum algorithms, namely the Deutsch, Deutsch-Jozsa, and the Grover algorithms using external black-box quantum oracle devices. In the process, we demonstrate a method to map existing quantum algorithms onto the universal quantum computer. PMID:22216276

  6. Interfacing external quantum devices to a universal quantum computer.

    PubMed

    Lagana, Antonio A; Lohe, Max A; von Smekal, Lorenz

    2011-01-01

    We present a scheme to use external quantum devices using the universal quantum computer previously constructed. We thereby show how the universal quantum computer can utilize networked quantum information resources to carry out local computations. Such information may come from specialized quantum devices or even from remote universal quantum computers. We show how to accomplish this by devising universal quantum computer programs that implement well known oracle based quantum algorithms, namely the Deutsch, Deutsch-Jozsa, and the Grover algorithms using external black-box quantum oracle devices. In the process, we demonstrate a method to map existing quantum algorithms onto the universal quantum computer. © 2011 Lagana et al.

  7. Safety in the Chemical Laboratory: Tested Disposal Methods for Chemical Wastes from Academic Laboratories.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Armour, M. A.; And Others

    1985-01-01

    Describes procedures for disposing of dichromate cleaning solution, picric acid, organic azides, oxalic acid, chemical spills, and hydroperoxides in ethers and alkenes. These methods have been tested under laboratory conditions and are specific for individual chemicals rather than for groups of chemicals. (JN)

  8. Standoff detection of explosives and chemical agents using broadly tuned external-cavity quantum cascade lasers (EC-QCLs)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Takeuchi, Eric B.; Rayner, Timothy; Weida, Miles; Crivello, Salvatore; Day, Timothy

    2007-10-01

    Civilian soft targets such as transportation systems are being targeted by terrorists using IEDs and suicide bombers. Having the capability to remotely detect explosives, precursors and other chemicals would enable these assets to be protected with minimal interruption of the flow of commerce. Mid-IR laser technology offers the potential to detect explosives and other chemicals in real-time and from a safe standoff distance. While many of these agents possess "fingerprint" signatures in the mid-IR (i.e. in the 3-20 micron regime), their effective interrogation by a practical, field-deployable system has been limited by size, complexity, reliability and cost constraints of the base laser technology. Daylight Solutions has addressed these shortcomings by developing compact, portable, broadly tunable mid-IR laser sources based upon external-cavity quantum cascade technology. This technology is now being applied by Daylight in system level architectures for standoff and remote detection of explosives, precursors and chemical agents. Several of these architectures and predicted levels of performance will be presented.

  9. The accuracy of quantum chemical methods for large noncovalent complexes

    PubMed Central

    Pitoňák, Michal; Řezáč, Jan; Pulay, Peter

    2013-01-01

    We evaluate the performance of the most widely used wavefunction, density functional theory, and semiempirical methods for the description of noncovalent interactions in a set of larger, mostly dispersion-stabilized noncovalent complexes (the L7 data set). The methods tested include MP2, MP3, SCS-MP2, SCS(MI)-MP2, MP2.5, MP2.X, MP2C, DFT-D, DFT-D3 (B3-LYP-D3, B-LYP-D3, TPSS-D3, PW6B95-D3, M06-2X-D3) and M06-2X, and semiempirical methods augmented with dispersion and hydrogen bonding corrections: SCC-DFTB-D, PM6-D, PM6-DH2 and PM6-D3H4. The test complexes are the octadecane dimer, the guanine trimer, the circumcoronene…adenine dimer, the coronene dimer, the guanine-cytosine dimer, the circumcoronene…guanine-cytosine dimer, and an amyloid fragment trimer containing phenylalanine residues. The best performing method is MP2.5 with relative root mean square deviation (rRMSD) of 4 %. It can thus be recommended as an alternative to the CCSD(T)/CBS (alternatively QCISD(T)/CBS) benchmark for molecular systems which exceed current computational capacity. The second best non-DFT method is MP2C with rRMSD of 8 %. A method with the most favorable “accuracy/cost” ratio belongs to the DFT family: BLYP-D3, with an rRMSD of 8 %. Semiempirical methods deliver less accurate results (the rRMSD exceeds 25 %). Nevertheless, their absolute errors are close to some much more expensive methods such as M06-2X, MP2 or SCS(MI)-MP2, and thus their price/performance ratio is excellent. PMID:24098094

  10. CRITIC2: A program for real-space analysis of quantum chemical interactions in solids

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Otero-de-la-Roza, A.; Johnson, Erin R.; Luaña, Víctor

    2014-03-01

    We present CRITIC2, a program for the analysis of quantum-mechanical atomic and molecular interactions in periodic solids. This code, a greatly improved version of the previous CRITIC program (Otero-de-la Roza et al., 2009), can: (i) find critical points of the electron density and related scalar fields such as the electron localization function (ELF), Laplacian, … (ii) integrate atomic properties in the framework of Bader’s Atoms-in-Molecules theory (QTAIM), (iii) visualize non-covalent interactions in crystals using the non-covalent interactions (NCI) index, (iv) generate relevant graphical representations including lines, planes, gradient paths, contour plots, atomic basins, … and (v) perform transformations between file formats describing scalar fields and crystal structures. CRITIC2 can interface with the output produced by a variety of electronic structure programs including WIEN2k, elk, PI, abinit, Quantum ESPRESSO, VASP, Gaussian, and, in general, any other code capable of writing the scalar field under study to a three-dimensional grid. CRITIC2 is parallelized, completely documented (including illustrative test cases) and publicly available under the GNU General Public License. Catalogue identifier: AECB_v2_0 Program summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AECB_v2_0.html Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen’s University, Belfast, N. Ireland Licensing provisions: yes No. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 11686949 No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 337020731 Distribution format: tar.gz Programming language: Fortran 77 and 90. Computer: Workstations. Operating system: Unix, GNU/Linux. Has the code been vectorized or parallelized?: Shared-memory parallelization can be used for most tasks. Classification: 7.3. Catalogue identifier of previous version: AECB_v1_0 Journal reference of previous version: Comput. Phys. Comm. 180 (2009) 157 Nature of problem: Analysis of quantum-chemical

  11. Atomistic full-quantum transport model for zigzag graphene nanoribbon-based structures: Complex energy-band method

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Chun-Nan; Luo, Win-Jet; Shyu, Feng-Lin; Chung, Hsien-Ching; Lin, Chiun-Yan; Wu, Jhao-Ying

    2018-01-01

    Using a non-equilibrium Green’s function framework in combination with the complex energy-band method, an atomistic full-quantum model for solving quantum transport problems for a zigzag-edge graphene nanoribbon (zGNR) structure is proposed. For transport calculations, the mathematical expressions from the theory for zGNR-based device structures are derived in detail. The transport properties of zGNR-based devices are calculated and studied in detail using the proposed method.

  12. Perspective: Quantum mechanical methods in biochemistry and biophysics.

    PubMed

    Cui, Qiang

    2016-10-14

    In this perspective article, I discuss several research topics relevant to quantum mechanical (QM) methods in biophysical and biochemical applications. Due to the immense complexity of biological problems, the key is to develop methods that are able to strike the proper balance of computational efficiency and accuracy for the problem of interest. Therefore, in addition to the development of novel ab initio and density functional theory based QM methods for the study of reactive events that involve complex motifs such as transition metal clusters in metalloenzymes, it is equally important to develop inexpensive QM methods and advanced classical or quantal force fields to describe different physicochemical properties of biomolecules and their behaviors in complex environments. Maintaining a solid connection of these more approximate methods with rigorous QM methods is essential to their transferability and robustness. Comparison to diverse experimental observables helps validate computational models and mechanistic hypotheses as well as driving further development of computational methodologies.

  13. Preparation of freezing quantum state for quantum coherence

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yang, Lian-Wu; Man, Zhong-Xiao; Zhang, Ying-Jie; Han, Feng; Du, Shao-jiang; Xia, Yun-Jie

    2018-06-01

    We provide a method to prepare the freezing quantum state for quantum coherence via unitary operations. The initial product state consists of the control qubit and target qubit; when it satisfies certain conditions, the initial product state converts into the particular Bell diagonal state under the unitary operations, which have the property of freezing of quantum coherence under quantum channels. We calculate the frozen quantum coherence and corresponding quantum correlations, and find that the quantities are determined by the control qubit only when the freezing phenomena occur.

  14. Fluorescent carbon quantum dots synthesized by chemical vapor deposition: An alternative candidate for electron acceptor in polymer solar cells

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cui, Bo; Yan, Lingpeng; Gu, Huimin; Yang, Yongzhen; Liu, Xuguang; Ma, Chang-Qi; Chen, Yongkang; Jia, Husheng

    2018-01-01

    Excitation-wavelength-dependent blue-greenish fluorescent carbon quantum dots (CQDs) with graphite structure were synthesized by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. In comparison with those synthesized by hydrothermal method (named H-CQDs), C-CQDs have less hydrophilic terminal groups, showing good solubility in common organic solvents. Furthermore, these synthesized C-CQDs show a low LUMO energy level (LUMO = -3.84 eV), which is close to that of phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PC61BM, LUMO = -4.01 eV), the most widely used electron acceptor in polymer solar cells. Photoluminescence quenching of the poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl):C-CQDs blended film (P3HT:C-CQDs) indicated that a photo-induced charge transfer between P3HT and C-CQDs occurs in such a composite film. Bulk heterojunction solar cells using C-CQDs as electron acceptors or doping materials were fabricated and tested. High fill factors were achieved for these C-CQDs based polymer solar cells, demonstrating that CQDs synthesized by CVD could be alternative to the fullerene derivatives for applying in polymer solar cells.

  15. Wet etch methods for InAs nanowire patterning and self-aligned electrical contacts

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fülöp, G.; d'Hollosy, S.; Hofstetter, L.; Baumgartner, A.; Nygård, J.; Schönenberger, C.; Csonka, S.

    2016-05-01

    Advanced synthesis of semiconductor nanowires (NWs) enables their application in diverse fields, notably in chemical and electrical sensing, photovoltaics, or quantum electronic devices. In particular, indium arsenide (InAs) NWs are an ideal platform for quantum devices, e.g. they may host topological Majorana states. While the synthesis has been continously perfected, only a few techniques have been developed to tailor individual NWs after growth. Here we present three wet chemical etch methods for the post-growth morphological engineering of InAs NWs on the sub-100 nm scale. The first two methods allow the formation of self-aligned electrical contacts to etched NWs, while the third method results in conical shaped NW profiles ideal for creating smooth electrical potential gradients and shallow barriers. Low temperature experiments show that NWs with etched segments have stable transport characteristics and can serve as building blocks of quantum electronic devices. As an example we report the formation of a single electrically stable quantum dot between two etched NW segments.

  16. Soil chemical sensor and precision agricultural chemical delivery system and method

    DOEpatents

    Colburn, Jr., John W.

    1991-01-01

    A real time soil chemical sensor and precision agricultural chemical delivery system includes a plurality of ground-engaging tools in association with individual soil sensors which measure soil chemical levels. The system includes the addition of a solvent which rapidly saturates the soil/tool interface to form a conductive solution of chemicals leached from the soil. A multivalent electrode, positioned within a multivalent frame of the ground-engaging tool, applies a voltage or impresses a current between the electrode and the tool frame. A real-time soil chemical sensor and controller senses the electrochemical reaction resulting from the application of the voltage or current to the leachate, measures it by resistivity methods, and compares it against pre-set resistivity levels for substances leached by the solvent. Still greater precision is obtained by calibrating for the secondary current impressed through solvent-less soil. The appropriate concentration is then found and the servo-controlled delivery system applies the appropriate amount of fertilizer or agricultural chemicals substantially in the location from which the soil measurement was taken.

  17. Soil chemical sensor and precision agricultural chemical delivery system and method

    DOEpatents

    Colburn, J.W. Jr.

    1991-07-23

    A real time soil chemical sensor and precision agricultural chemical delivery system includes a plurality of ground-engaging tools in association with individual soil sensors which measure soil chemical levels. The system includes the addition of a solvent which rapidly saturates the soil/tool interface to form a conductive solution of chemicals leached from the soil. A multivalent electrode, positioned within a multivalent frame of the ground-engaging tool, applies a voltage or impresses a current between the electrode and the tool frame. A real-time soil chemical sensor and controller senses the electrochemical reaction resulting from the application of the voltage or current to the leachate, measures it by resistivity methods, and compares it against pre-set resistivity levels for substances leached by the solvent. Still greater precision is obtained by calibrating for the secondary current impressed through solvent-less soil. The appropriate concentration is then found and the servo-controlled delivery system applies the appropriate amount of fertilizer or agricultural chemicals substantially in the location from which the soil measurement was taken. 5 figures.

  18. An Algebraic Method for Exploring Quantum Monodromy and Quantum Phase Transitions in Non-Rigid Molecules

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Larese, D.; Iachello, F.

    2011-06-01

    A simple algebraic Hamiltonian has been used to explore the vibrational and rotational spectra of the skeletal bending modes of HCNO, BrCNO, NCNCS, and other ``floppy`` (quasi-linear or quasi-bent) molecules. These molecules have large-amplitude, low-energy bending modes and champagne-bottle potential surfaces, making them good candidates for observing quantum phase transitions (QPT). We describe the geometric phase transitions from bent to linear in these and other non-rigid molecules, quantitatively analysing the spectroscopy signatures of ground state QPT, excited state QPT, and quantum monodromy.The algebraic framework is ideal for this work because of its small calculational effort yet robust results. Although these methods have historically found success with tri- and four-atomic molecules, we now address five-atomic and simple branched molecules such as CH_3NCO and GeH_3NCO. Extraction of potential functions is completed for several molecules, resulting in predictions of barriers to linearity and equilibrium bond angles.

  19. Quantum chemical and experimental studies on the structure and vibrational spectra of an alkaloid-Corlumine

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mishra, Rashmi; Joshi, Bhawani Datt; Srivastava, Anubha; Tandon, Poonam; Jain, Sudha

    2014-01-01

    The study concentrates on an important natural product, phthalide isoquinoline alkaloid Corlumine (COR) [(6R)-6-[(1S)-1,2,3,4-Tetrahydro-6,7-dimethoxy-2-methylisoquinolin-1-yl] furo [3,4-e]-1,3-benzodioxol-8(6H)-one] well known to exhibit spasmolytic and GABA antagonist activity. It was fully characterized by a variety of experimental methods including vibrational spectroscopy (IR and Raman), thermal analysis (DSC), UV and SEM. For a better interpretation and analysis of the results quantum chemical calculations employing DFT were also performed. TD-DFT was employed to elucidate electronic properties for both gaseous and solvent environment using IEF-PCM model. Graphical representation of HOMO and LUMO would provide a valuable insight into the nature of reactivity and some of the structural and physical properties of the title molecule. The structure-activity relationship have been interpreted by mapping electrostatic potential surface (MEP), which is valuable information for the quality control of medicines and drug-receptor interactions. Stability of the molecule arising from hyper conjugative interactions, charge delocalisation has been analyzed using natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis. Computation of thermodynamical properties would help to have a deep insight into the molecule for further applications.

  20. Quantum interpolation for high-resolution sensing

    PubMed Central

    Ajoy, Ashok; Liu, Yi-Xiang; Saha, Kasturi; Marseglia, Luca; Jaskula, Jean-Christophe; Bissbort, Ulf; Cappellaro, Paola

    2017-01-01

    Recent advances in engineering and control of nanoscale quantum sensors have opened new paradigms in precision metrology. Unfortunately, hardware restrictions often limit the sensor performance. In nanoscale magnetic resonance probes, for instance, finite sampling times greatly limit the achievable sensitivity and spectral resolution. Here we introduce a technique for coherent quantum interpolation that can overcome these problems. Using a quantum sensor associated with the nitrogen vacancy center in diamond, we experimentally demonstrate that quantum interpolation can achieve spectroscopy of classical magnetic fields and individual quantum spins with orders of magnitude finer frequency resolution than conventionally possible. Not only is quantum interpolation an enabling technique to extract structural and chemical information from single biomolecules, but it can be directly applied to other quantum systems for superresolution quantum spectroscopy. PMID:28196889

  1. Quantum Simulations of Solvated Biomolecules Using Hybrid Methods

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hodak, Miroslav

    2009-03-01

    One of the most important challenges in quantum simulations on biomolecules is efficient and accurate inclusion of the solvent, because the solvent atoms usually outnumber those in the biomolecule of interest. We have developed a hybrid method that allows for explicit quantum-mechanical treatment of the solvent at low computational cost. In this method, Kohn-Sham (KS) density functional theory (DFT) is combined with an orbital-free (OF) DFT. Kohn-Sham (KS) DFT is used to describe the biomolecule and its first solvation shells, while the orbital-free (OF) DFT is employed for the rest of the solvent. The OF part is fully O(N) and capable of handling 10^5 solvent molecules on current parallel supercomputers, while taking only ˜ 10 % of the total time. The compatibility between the KS and OF DFT methods enables seamless integration between the two. In particular, the flow of solvent molecules across the KS/OF interface is allowed and the total energy is conserved. As the first large-scale applications, the hybrid method has been used to investigate the binding of copper ions to proteins involved in prion (PrP) and Parkinson's diseases. Our results for the PrP, which causes mad cow disease when misfolded, resolve a contradiction found in experiments, in which a stronger binding mode is replaced by a weaker one when concentration of copper ions is increased, and show how it can act as a copper buffer. Furthermore, incorporation of copper stabilizes the structure of the full-length PrP, suggesting its protective role in prion diseases. For alpha-synuclein, a Parkinson's disease (PD) protein, we show that Cu binding modifies the protein structurally, making it more susceptible to misfolding -- an initial step in the onset of PD. In collaboration with W. Lu, F. Rose and J. Bernholc.

  2. Self-guided method to search maximal Bell violations for unknown quantum states

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yang, Li-Kai; Chen, Geng; Zhang, Wen-Hao; Peng, Xing-Xiang; Yu, Shang; Ye, Xiang-Jun; Li, Chuan-Feng; Guo, Guang-Can

    2017-11-01

    In recent decades, a great variety of research and applications concerning Bell nonlocality have been developed with the advent of quantum information science. Providing that Bell nonlocality can be revealed by the violation of a family of Bell inequalities, finding maximal Bell violation (MBV) for unknown quantum states becomes an important and inevitable task during Bell experiments. In this paper we introduce a self-guided method to find MBVs for unknown states using a stochastic gradient ascent algorithm (SGA), by parametrizing the corresponding Bell operators. For three investigated systems (two qubit, three qubit, and two qutrit), this method can ascertain the MBV of general two-setting inequalities within 100 iterations. Furthermore, we prove SGA is also feasible when facing more complex Bell scenarios, e.g., d -setting d -outcome Bell inequality. Moreover, compared to other possible methods, SGA exhibits significant superiority in efficiency, robustness, and versatility.

  3. Stress-induced crystal transition of poly(butylene succinate) studied by terahertz and low-frequency Raman spectroscopy and quantum chemical calculation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tatsuoka, Seika; Sato, Harumi

    2018-05-01

    We measured terahertz (THz) and low-frequency Raman spectra of Poly (butylene succinate) (PBS) which shows the crystal transition from α to β by stretching. For the assignment of the absorption peaks in the low-frequency region, we performed quantum chemical calculations with Cartesian-coordinate tensor transfer (CCT) method. Four major peaks appeared in the THz spectra of PBS at around 58, 76, 90, and 100 cm-1, and in the low-frequency Raman spectra a peak was observed at 88 cm-1. The THz peak at 100 cm-1 and the Raman peak at 88 cm-1 show a shift to a lower wavenumber region with increasing temperature. The quantum chemical calculation of β crystal form reveals the new peak appears above 100 cm-1. It was found that two kinds of peaks overlapped at around 100 cm-1 in the THz spectra of PBS. One of them can be assigned to a weak hydrogen bond between the C=O and CH2 groups in the intermolecular chains, which is perpendicular to the molecular chain of the α crystal form. Another one showed a parallel polarization which can be assigned to the intramolecular interaction between O (ether) and H-C groups in the β crystal form. The position of the peak at around 100 cm-1 in the perpendicular polarization changed to a lower wavenumber region with stretching, because of the weakening of the intermolecular hydrogen bonding by increasing the interatomic distances. On the other hand, that of the parallel polarization shifts to a higher wavenumber region because of the shortening of the interatomic distance from α to β crystal form (the strength of the intramolecular hydrogen bonding became stronger) by stretching.

  4. Water-assisted growth of graphene on carbon nanotubes by the chemical vapor deposition method.

    PubMed

    Feng, Jian-Min; Dai, Ye-Jing

    2013-05-21

    Combining carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with graphene has been proved to be a feasible method for improving the performance of graphene for some practical applications. This paper reports a water-assisted route to grow graphene on CNTs from ferrocene and thiophene dissolved in ethanol by the chemical vapor deposition method in an argon flow. A double injection technique was used to separately inject ethanol solution and water for the preparation of graphene/CNTs. First, CNTs were prepared from ethanol solution and water. The injection of ethanol solution was suspended and water alone was injected into the reactor to etch the CNTs. Thereafter, ethanol solution was injected along with water, which is the key factor in obtaining graphene/CNTs. Transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Raman scattering analyses confirmed that the products were the hybrid materials of graphene/CNTs. X-ray photo-electron spectroscopy analysis showed the presence of oxygen rich functional groups on the surface of the graphene/CNTs. Given the activity of the graphene/CNT surface, CdS quantum dots adhered onto it uniformly through simple mechanical mixing.

  5. Emergent mechanics, quantum and un-quantum

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ralston, John P.

    2013-10-01

    There is great interest in quantum mechanics as an "emergent" phenomenon. The program holds that nonobvious patterns and laws can emerge from complicated physical systems operating by more fundamental rules. We find a new approach where quantum mechanics itself should be viewed as an information management tool not derived from physics nor depending on physics. The main accomplishment of quantum-style theory comes in expanding the notion of probability. We construct a map from macroscopic information as data" to quantum probability. The map allows a hidden variable description for quantum states, and efficient use of the helpful tools of quantum mechanics in unlimited circumstances. Quantum dynamics via the time-dependent Shroedinger equation or operator methods actually represents a restricted class of classical Hamiltonian or Lagrangian dynamics, albeit with different numbers of degrees of freedom. We show that under wide circumstances such dynamics emerges from structureless dynamical systems. The uses of the quantum information management tools are illustrated by numerical experiments and practical applications

  6. Compressed Sensing Quantum Process Tomography for Superconducting Quantum Gates

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rodionov, Andrey

    An important challenge in quantum information science and quantum computing is the experimental realization of high-fidelity quantum operations on multi-qubit systems. Quantum process tomography (QPT) is a procedure devised to fully characterize a quantum operation. We first present the results of the estimation of the process matrix for superconducting multi-qubit quantum gates using the full data set employing various methods: linear inversion, maximum likelihood, and least-squares. To alleviate the problem of exponential resource scaling needed to characterize a multi-qubit system, we next investigate a compressed sensing (CS) method for QPT of two-qubit and three-qubit quantum gates. Using experimental data for two-qubit controlled-Z gates, taken with both Xmon and superconducting phase qubits, we obtain estimates for the process matrices with reasonably high fidelities compared to full QPT, despite using significantly reduced sets of initial states and measurement configurations. We show that the CS method still works when the amount of data is so small that the standard QPT would have an underdetermined system of equations. We also apply the CS method to the analysis of the three-qubit Toffoli gate with simulated noise, and similarly show that the method works well for a substantially reduced set of data. For the CS calculations we use two different bases in which the process matrix is approximately sparse (the Pauli-error basis and the singular value decomposition basis), and show that the resulting estimates of the process matrices match with reasonably high fidelity. For both two-qubit and three-qubit gates, we characterize the quantum process by its process matrix and average state fidelity, as well as by the corresponding standard deviation defined via the variation of the state fidelity for different initial states. We calculate the standard deviation of the average state fidelity both analytically and numerically, using a Monte Carlo method. Overall

  7. Robust scoring functions for protein-ligand interactions with quantum chemical charge models.

    PubMed

    Wang, Jui-Chih; Lin, Jung-Hsin; Chen, Chung-Ming; Perryman, Alex L; Olson, Arthur J

    2011-10-24

    Ordinary least-squares (OLS) regression has been used widely for constructing the scoring functions for protein-ligand interactions. However, OLS is very sensitive to the existence of outliers, and models constructed using it are easily affected by the outliers or even the choice of the data set. On the other hand, determination of atomic charges is regarded as of central importance, because the electrostatic interaction is known to be a key contributing factor for biomolecular association. In the development of the AutoDock4 scoring function, only OLS was conducted, and the simple Gasteiger method was adopted. It is therefore of considerable interest to see whether more rigorous charge models could improve the statistical performance of the AutoDock4 scoring function. In this study, we have employed two well-established quantum chemical approaches, namely the restrained electrostatic potential (RESP) and the Austin-model 1-bond charge correction (AM1-BCC) methods, to obtain atomic partial charges, and we have compared how different charge models affect the performance of AutoDock4 scoring functions. In combination with robust regression analysis and outlier exclusion, our new protein-ligand free energy regression model with AM1-BCC charges for ligands and Amber99SB charges for proteins achieve lowest root-mean-squared error of 1.637 kcal/mol for the training set of 147 complexes and 2.176 kcal/mol for the external test set of 1427 complexes. The assessment for binding pose prediction with the 100 external decoy sets indicates very high success rate of 87% with the criteria of predicted root-mean-squared deviation of less than 2 Å. The success rates and statistical performance of our robust scoring functions are only weakly class-dependent (hydrophobic, hydrophilic, or mixed).

  8. Chemical Safety Alert: Identifying Chemical Reactivity Hazards Preliminary Screening Method

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    Introduces small-to-medium-sized facilities to a method developed by Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS), based on a series of twelve yes-or-no questions to help determine hazards in warehousing, repackaging, blending, mixing, and processing.

  9. Physical-chemical property based sequence motifs and methods regarding same

    DOEpatents

    Braun, Werner [Friendswood, TX; Mathura, Venkatarajan S [Sarasota, FL; Schein, Catherine H [Friendswood, TX

    2008-09-09

    A data analysis system, program, and/or method, e.g., a data mining/data exploration method, using physical-chemical property motifs. For example, a sequence database may be searched for identifying segments thereof having physical-chemical properties similar to the physical-chemical property motifs.

  10. Observation of the Quantum Anomalous Hall Insulator to Anderson Insulator Quantum Phase Transition and its Scaling Behavior.

    PubMed

    Chang, Cui-Zu; Zhao, Weiwei; Li, Jian; Jain, J K; Liu, Chaoxing; Moodera, Jagadeesh S; Chan, Moses H W

    2016-09-16

    Fundamental insight into the nature of the quantum phase transition from a superconductor to an insulator in two dimensions, or from one plateau to the next or to an insulator in the quantum Hall effect, has been revealed through the study of its scaling behavior. Here, we report on the experimental observation of a quantum phase transition from a quantum-anomalous-Hall insulator to an Anderson insulator in a magnetic topological insulator by tuning the chemical potential. Our experiment demonstrates the existence of scaling behavior from which we extract the critical exponent for this quantum phase transition. We expect that our work will motivate much further investigation of many properties of quantum phase transition in this new context.

  11. Using quantum chemistry muscle to flex massive systems: How to respond to something perturbing

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Bertoni, Colleen

    Computational chemistry uses the theoretical advances of quantum mechanics and the algorithmic and hardware advances of computer science to give insight into chemical problems. It is currently possible to do highly accurate quantum chemistry calculations, but the most accurate methods are very computationally expensive. Thus it is only feasible to do highly accurate calculations on small molecules, since typically more computationally efficient methods are also less accurate. The overall goal of my dissertation work has been to try to decrease the computational expense of calculations without decreasing the accuracy. In particular, my dissertation work focuses on fragmentation methods, intermolecular interactionsmore » methods, analytic gradients, and taking advantage of new hardware.« less

  12. Quantum hydrodynamics: capturing a reactive scattering resonance.

    PubMed

    Derrickson, Sean W; Bittner, Eric R; Kendrick, Brian K

    2005-08-01

    The hydrodynamic equations of motion associated with the de Broglie-Bohm formulation of quantum mechanics are solved using a meshless method based upon a moving least-squares approach. An arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian frame of reference and a regridding algorithm which adds and deletes computational points are used to maintain a uniform and nearly constant interparticle spacing. The methodology also uses averaged fields to maintain unitary time evolution. The numerical instabilities associated with the formation of nodes in the reflected portion of the wave packet are avoided by adding artificial viscosity to the equations of motion. A new and more robust artificial viscosity algorithm is presented which gives accurate scattering results and is capable of capturing quantum resonances. The methodology is applied to a one-dimensional model chemical reaction that is known to exhibit a quantum resonance. The correlation function approach is used to compute the reactive scattering matrix, reaction probability, and time delay as a function of energy. Excellent agreement is obtained between the scattering results based upon the quantum hydrodynamic approach and those based upon standard quantum mechanics. This is the first clear demonstration of the ability of moving grid approaches to accurately and robustly reproduce resonance structures in a scattering system.

  13. Ramsey's method of separated oscillating fields and its application to gravitationally induced quantum phase shifts

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Abele, H.; Jenke, T.; Leeb, H.

    2010-03-15

    We propose to apply Ramsey's method of separated oscillating fields to the spectroscopy of the quantum states in the gravity potential above a horizontal mirror. This method allows a precise measurement of quantum mechanical phaseshifts of a Schroedinger wave packet bouncing off a hard surface in the gravitational field of the Earth. Measurements with ultracold neutrons will offer a sensitivity to Newton's law or hypothetical short-ranged interactions, which is about 21 orders of magnitude below the energy scale of electromagnetism.

  14. Finite element method for calculating spectral and optical characteristics of axially symmetric quantum dots

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gusev, A. A.; Chuluunbaatar, O.; Vinitsky, S. I.; Derbov, V. L.; Hai, L. L.; Kazaryan, E. M.; Sarkisyan, H. A.

    2018-04-01

    We present new calculation schemes using high-order finite element method implemented on unstructured grids with triangle elements for solving boundary-value problems that describe axially symmetric quantum dots. The efficiency of the algorithms and software is demonstrated by benchmark calculations of the energy spectrum, the envelope eigenfunctions of electron, hole and exciton states, and the direct interband light absorption in conical and spheroidal impenetrable quantum dots.

  15. Theoretical modeling of large molecular systems. Advances in the local self consistent field method for mixed quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics calculations.

    PubMed

    Monari, Antonio; Rivail, Jean-Louis; Assfeld, Xavier

    2013-02-19

    Molecular mechanics methods can efficiently compute the macroscopic properties of a large molecular system but cannot represent the electronic changes that occur during a chemical reaction or an electronic transition. Quantum mechanical methods can accurately simulate these processes, but they require considerably greater computational resources. Because electronic changes typically occur in a limited part of the system, such as the solute in a molecular solution or the substrate within the active site of enzymatic reactions, researchers can limit the quantum computation to this part of the system. Researchers take into account the influence of the surroundings by embedding this quantum computation into a calculation of the whole system described at the molecular mechanical level, a strategy known as the mixed quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) approach. The accuracy of this embedding varies according to the types of interactions included, whether they are purely mechanical or classically electrostatic. This embedding can also introduce the induced polarization of the surroundings. The difficulty in QM/MM calculations comes from the splitting of the system into two parts, which requires severing the chemical bonds that link the quantum mechanical subsystem to the classical subsystem. Typically, researchers replace the quantoclassical atoms, those at the boundary between the subsystems, with a monovalent link atom. For example, researchers might add a hydrogen atom when a C-C bond is cut. This Account describes another approach, the Local Self Consistent Field (LSCF), which was developed in our laboratory. LSCF links the quantum mechanical portion of the molecule to the classical portion using a strictly localized bond orbital extracted from a small model molecule for each bond. In this scenario, the quantoclassical atom has an apparent nuclear charge of +1. To achieve correct bond lengths and force constants, we must take into account the inner shell of

  16. Semiconductor nanocrystal quantum dot synthesis approaches towards large-scale industrial production for energy applications

    DOE PAGES

    Hu, Michael Z.; Zhu, Ting

    2015-12-04

    This study reviews the experimental synthesis and engineering developments that focused on various green approaches and large-scale process production routes for quantum dots. Fundamental process engineering principles were illustrated. In relation to the small-scale hot injection method, our discussions focus on the non-injection route that could be scaled up with engineering stir-tank reactors. In addition, applications that demand to utilize quantum dots as "commodity" chemicals are discussed, including solar cells and solid-state lightings.

  17. Elucidation of Mechanisms and Selectivities of Metal-Catalyzed Reactions using Quantum Chemical Methodology.

    PubMed

    Santoro, Stefano; Kalek, Marcin; Huang, Genping; Himo, Fahmi

    2016-05-17

    Quantum chemical techniques today are indispensable for the detailed mechanistic understanding of catalytic reactions. The development of modern density functional theory approaches combined with the enormous growth in computer power have made it possible to treat quite large systems at a reasonable level of accuracy. Accordingly, quantum chemistry has been applied extensively to a wide variety of catalytic systems. A huge number of problems have been solved successfully, and vast amounts of chemical insights have been gained. In this Account, we summarize some of our recent work in this field. A number of examples concerned with transition metal-catalyzed reactions are selected, with emphasis on reactions with various kinds of selectivities. The discussed cases are (1) copper-catalyzed C-H bond amidation of indoles, (2) iridium-catalyzed C(sp(3))-H borylation of chlorosilanes, (3) vanadium-catalyzed Meyer-Schuster rearrangement and its combination with aldol- and Mannich-type additions, (4) palladium-catalyzed propargylic substitution with phosphorus nucleophiles, (5) rhodium-catalyzed 1:2 coupling of aldehydes and allenes, and finally (6) copper-catalyzed coupling of nitrones and alkynes to produce β-lactams (Kinugasa reaction). First, the methodology adopted in these studies is presented briefly. The electronic structure method in the great majority of these kinds of mechanistic investigations has for the last two decades been based on density functional theory. In the cases discussed here, mainly the B3LYP functional has been employed in conjunction with Grimme's empirical dispersion correction, which has been shown to improve the calculated energies significantly. The effect of the surrounding solvent is described by implicit solvation techniques, and the thermochemical corrections are included using the rigid-rotor harmonic oscillator approximation. The reviewed examples are chosen to illustrate the usefulness and versatility of the adopted methodology in

  18. Toward structural dynamics: protein motions viewed by chemical shift modulations and direct detection of C'N multiple-quantum relaxation.

    PubMed

    Mori, Mirko; Kateb, Fatiha; Bodenhausen, Geoffrey; Piccioli, Mario; Abergel, Daniel

    2010-03-17

    Multiple quantum relaxation in proteins reveals unexpected relationships between correlated or anti-correlated conformational backbone dynamics in alpha-helices or beta-sheets. The contributions of conformational exchange to the relaxation rates of C'N coherences (i.e., double- and zero-quantum coherences involving backbone carbonyl (13)C' and neighboring amide (15)N nuclei) depend on the kinetics of slow exchange processes, as well as on the populations of the conformations and chemical shift differences of (13)C' and (15)N nuclei. The relaxation rates of C'N coherences, which reflect concerted fluctuations due to slow chemical shift modulations (CSMs), were determined by direct (13)C detection in diamagnetic and paramagnetic proteins. In well-folded proteins such as lanthanide-substituted calbindin (CaLnCb), copper,zinc superoxide dismutase (Cu,Zn SOD), and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP12), slow conformational exchange occurs along the entire backbone. Our observations demonstrate that relaxation rates of C'N coherences arising from slow backbone dynamics have positive signs (characteristic of correlated fluctuations) in beta-sheets and negative signs (characteristic of anti-correlated fluctuations) in alpha-helices. This extends the prospects of structure-dynamics relationships to slow time scales that are relevant for protein function and enzymatic activity.

  19. Recent progress of quantum annealing

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Suzuki, Sei

    2015-03-10

    We review the recent progress of quantum annealing. Quantum annealing was proposed as a method to solve generic optimization problems. Recently a Canadian company has drawn a great deal of attention, as it has commercialized a quantum computer based on quantum annealing. Although the performance of quantum annealing is not sufficiently understood, it is likely that quantum annealing will be a practical method both on a conventional computer and on a quantum computer.

  20. Renyi entanglement entropy of interacting fermions calculated using the continuous-time quantum Monte Carlo method.

    PubMed

    Wang, Lei; Troyer, Matthias

    2014-09-12

    We present a new algorithm for calculating the Renyi entanglement entropy of interacting fermions using the continuous-time quantum Monte Carlo method. The algorithm only samples the interaction correction of the entanglement entropy, which by design ensures the efficient calculation of weakly interacting systems. Combined with Monte Carlo reweighting, the algorithm also performs well for systems with strong interactions. We demonstrate the potential of this method by studying the quantum entanglement signatures of the charge-density-wave transition of interacting fermions on a square lattice.

  1. Quantum State Diffusion

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Percival, Ian

    2005-10-01

    1. Introduction; 2. Brownian motion and Itô calculus; 3. Open quantum systems; 4. Quantum state diffusion; 5. Localisation; 6. Numerical methods and examples; 7. Quantum foundations; 8. Primary state diffusion; 9. Classical dynamics of quantum localisation; 10. Semiclassical theory and linear dynamics.

  2. Chemical nature and structure of organic coating of quantum dots is crucial for their application in imaging diagnostics

    PubMed Central

    Bakalova, Rumiana; Zhelev, Zhivko; Kokuryo, Daisuke; Spasov, Lubomir; Aoki, Ichio; Saga, Tsuneo

    2011-01-01

    Background: One of the most attractive properties of quantum dots is their potential to extend the opportunities for fluorescent and multimodal imaging in vivo. The aim of the present study was to clarify whether the composition and structure of organic coating of nanoparticles are crucial for their application in vivo. Methods: We compared quantum dots coated with non-crosslinked amino-functionalized polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers, quantum dots encapsulated in crosslinked carboxyl-functionalized PAMAM dendrimers, and silica-shelled amino-functionalized quantum dots. A multimodal fluorescent and paramagnetic quantum dot probe was also developed and analyzed. The probes were applied intravenously in anesthetized animals for visualization of brain vasculature using two-photon excited fluorescent microscopy and visualization of tumors using fluorescent IVIS® imaging (Caliper Life Sciences, Hopkinton, MA) and magnetic resonance imaging. Results: Quantum dots coated with non-crosslinked dendrimers were cytotoxic. They induced side effects in vivo, including vasodilatation with a decrease in mean arterial blood pressure and heart rate. The quantum dots penetrated the vessels, which caused the quality of fluorescent imaging to deteriorate. Quantum dots encapsulated in crosslinked dendrimers had low cytotoxicity and were biocompatible. In concentrations <0.3 nmol quantum dots/kg bodyweight, these nanoparticles did not affect blood pressure and heart rate, and did not induce vasodilatation or vasoconstriction. PEGylation (PEG [polyethylene glycol]) was an indispensable step in development of a quantum dot probe for in vivo imaging, based on silica-shelled quantum dots. The non-PEGylated silica-shelled quantum dots possessed low colloidal stability in high-salt physiological fluids, accompanied by rapid aggregation in vivo. The conjugation of silica-shelled quantum dots with PEG1100 increased their stability and half-life in the circulation without significant

  3. Frequency-domain multiscale quantum mechanics/electromagnetics simulation method

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Meng, Lingyi; Yin, Zhenyu; Yam, ChiYung, E-mail: yamcy@yangtze.hku.hk, E-mail: ghc@everest.hku.hk

    A frequency-domain quantum mechanics and electromagnetics (QM/EM) method is developed. Compared with the time-domain QM/EM method [Meng et al., J. Chem. Theory Comput. 8, 1190–1199 (2012)], the newly developed frequency-domain QM/EM method could effectively capture the dynamic properties of electronic devices over a broader range of operating frequencies. The system is divided into QM and EM regions and solved in a self-consistent manner via updating the boundary conditions at the QM and EM interface. The calculated potential distributions and current densities at the interface are taken as the boundary conditions for the QM and EM calculations, respectively, which facilitate themore » information exchange between the QM and EM calculations and ensure that the potential, charge, and current distributions are continuous across the QM/EM interface. Via Fourier transformation, the dynamic admittance calculated from the time-domain and frequency-domain QM/EM methods is compared for a carbon nanotube based molecular device.« less

  4. The Effect of Phonons in RbCl Quantum Pseudodot Qubits

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sun, Yong; Ding, Zhao-Hua; Xiao, Jing-Lin

    2016-07-01

    By employing the Pekar variational method, the eigenenergies and eigenfunctions of the ground and first-excited states are obtained in a strong electron-longitudinal optical (LO) phonon coupling RbCl quantum pseudodot (QPD). A single qubit can be realized in this two-level quantum system. The electron probability density (EPD) oscillates in the RbCl QPD with a certain period. The investigated results show that the EPD rises with raising the chemical potential of the two-dimensional electron gas and the zero point of the pseudoharmonic potential, whereas it decays with increasing the polaron radius. However, the oscillating period (OP) possesses precisely the opposite characteristics. Through the results and analysis above, we find three ways to adjust the EPD and the OP via changing the chemical potential of the two-dimensional electron gas, the zero point of the pseudoharmonic potential, and the polaron radius.

  5. Experimental benchmarking of quantum control in zero-field nuclear magnetic resonance.

    PubMed

    Jiang, Min; Wu, Teng; Blanchard, John W; Feng, Guanru; Peng, Xinhua; Budker, Dmitry

    2018-06-01

    Demonstration of coherent control and characterization of the control fidelity is important for the development of quantum architectures such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). We introduce an experimental approach to realize universal quantum control, and benchmarking thereof, in zero-field NMR, an analog of conventional high-field NMR that features less-constrained spin dynamics. We design a composite pulse technique for both arbitrary one-spin rotations and a two-spin controlled-not (CNOT) gate in a heteronuclear two-spin system at zero field, which experimentally demonstrates universal quantum control in such a system. Moreover, using quantum information-inspired randomized benchmarking and partial quantum process tomography, we evaluate the quality of the control, achieving single-spin control for 13 C with an average fidelity of 0.9960(2) and two-spin control via a CNOT gate with a fidelity of 0.9877(2). Our method can also be extended to more general multispin heteronuclear systems at zero field. The realization of universal quantum control in zero-field NMR is important for quantum state/coherence preparation, pulse sequence design, and is an essential step toward applications to materials science, chemical analysis, and fundamental physics.

  6. Experimental benchmarking of quantum control in zero-field nuclear magnetic resonance

    PubMed Central

    Feng, Guanru

    2018-01-01

    Demonstration of coherent control and characterization of the control fidelity is important for the development of quantum architectures such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). We introduce an experimental approach to realize universal quantum control, and benchmarking thereof, in zero-field NMR, an analog of conventional high-field NMR that features less-constrained spin dynamics. We design a composite pulse technique for both arbitrary one-spin rotations and a two-spin controlled-not (CNOT) gate in a heteronuclear two-spin system at zero field, which experimentally demonstrates universal quantum control in such a system. Moreover, using quantum information–inspired randomized benchmarking and partial quantum process tomography, we evaluate the quality of the control, achieving single-spin control for 13C with an average fidelity of 0.9960(2) and two-spin control via a CNOT gate with a fidelity of 0.9877(2). Our method can also be extended to more general multispin heteronuclear systems at zero field. The realization of universal quantum control in zero-field NMR is important for quantum state/coherence preparation, pulse sequence design, and is an essential step toward applications to materials science, chemical analysis, and fundamental physics. PMID:29922714

  7. Students' Levels of Explanations, Models, and Misconceptions in Basic Quantum Chemistry: A Phenomenographic Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stefani, Christina; Tsaparlis, Georgios

    2009-01-01

    We investigated students' knowledge constructions of basic quantum chemistry concepts, namely atomic orbitals, the Schrodinger equation, molecular orbitals, hybridization, and chemical bonding. Ausubel's theory of meaningful learning provided the theoretical framework and phenomenography the method of analysis. The semi-structured interview with…

  8. Efficient universal quantum channel simulation in IBM's cloud quantum computer

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wei, Shi-Jie; Xin, Tao; Long, Gui-Lu

    2018-07-01

    The study of quantum channels is an important field and promises a wide range of applications, because any physical process can be represented as a quantum channel that transforms an initial state into a final state. Inspired by the method of performing non-unitary operators by the linear combination of unitary operations, we proposed a quantum algorithm for the simulation of the universal single-qubit channel, described by a convex combination of "quasi-extreme" channels corresponding to four Kraus operators, and is scalable to arbitrary higher dimension. We demonstrated the whole algorithm experimentally using the universal IBM cloud-based quantum computer and studied the properties of different qubit quantum channels. We illustrated the quantum capacity of the general qubit quantum channels, which quantifies the amount of quantum information that can be protected. The behavior of quantum capacity in different channels revealed which types of noise processes can support information transmission, and which types are too destructive to protect information. There was a general agreement between the theoretical predictions and the experiments, which strongly supports our method. By realizing the arbitrary qubit channel, this work provides a universally- accepted way to explore various properties of quantum channels and novel prospect for quantum communication.

  9. Quantum energy teleportation in a quantum Hall system

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Yusa, Go; Izumida, Wataru; Hotta, Masahiro

    2011-09-15

    We propose an experimental method for a quantum protocol termed quantum energy teleportation (QET), which allows energy transportation to a remote location without physical carriers. Using a quantum Hall system as a realistic model, we discuss the physical significance of QET and estimate the order of energy gain using reasonable experimental parameters.

  10. Tensor-Train Split-Operator Fourier Transform (TT-SOFT) Method: Multidimensional Nonadiabatic Quantum Dynamics.

    PubMed

    Greene, Samuel M; Batista, Victor S

    2017-09-12

    We introduce the "tensor-train split-operator Fourier transform" (TT-SOFT) method for simulations of multidimensional nonadiabatic quantum dynamics. TT-SOFT is essentially the grid-based SOFT method implemented in dynamically adaptive tensor-train representations. In the same spirit of all matrix product states, the tensor-train format enables the representation, propagation, and computation of observables of multidimensional wave functions in terms of the grid-based wavepacket tensor components, bypassing the need of actually computing the wave function in its full-rank tensor product grid space. We demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the TT-SOFT method as applied to propagation of 24-dimensional wave packets, describing the S 1 /S 2 interconversion dynamics of pyrazine after UV photoexcitation to the S 2 state. Our results show that the TT-SOFT method is a powerful computational approach for simulations of quantum dynamics of polyatomic systems since it avoids the exponential scaling problem of full-rank grid-based representations.

  11. Chemically modulated graphene quantum dot for tuning the photoluminescence as novel sensory probe

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hwang, Eunhee; Hwang, Hee Min; Shin, Yonghun; Yoon, Yeoheung; Lee, Hanleem; Yang, Junghee; Bak, Sora; Lee, Hyoyoung

    2016-12-01

    A band gap tuning of environmental-friendly graphene quantum dot (GQD) becomes a keen interest for novel applications such as photoluminescence (PL) sensor. Here, for tuning the band gap of GQD, a hexafluorohydroxypropanyl benzene (HFHPB) group acted as a receptor of a chemical warfare agent was chemically attached on the GQD via the diazonium coupling reaction of HFHPB diazonium salt, providing new HFHPB-GQD material. With a help of the electron withdrawing HFHPB group, the energy band gap of the HFHPB-GQD was widened and its PL decay life time decreased. As designed, after addition of dimethyl methyl phosphonate (DMMP), the PL intensity of HFHPB-GQD sensor sharply increased up to approximately 200% through a hydrogen bond with DMMP. The fast response and short recovery time was proven by quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) analysis. This HFHPB-GQD sensor shows highly sensitive to DMMP in comparison with GQD sensor without HFHPB and graphene. In addition, the HFHPB-GQD sensor showed high selectivity only to the phosphonate functional group among many other analytes and also stable enough for real device applications. Thus, the tuning of the band gap of the photoluminescent GQDs may open up new promising strategies for the molecular detection of target substrates.

  12. Chemically modulated graphene quantum dot for tuning the photoluminescence as novel sensory probe

    PubMed Central

    Hwang, Eunhee; Hwang, Hee Min; Shin, Yonghun; Yoon, Yeoheung; Lee, Hanleem; Yang, Junghee; Bak, Sora; Lee, Hyoyoung

    2016-01-01

    A band gap tuning of environmental-friendly graphene quantum dot (GQD) becomes a keen interest for novel applications such as photoluminescence (PL) sensor. Here, for tuning the band gap of GQD, a hexafluorohydroxypropanyl benzene (HFHPB) group acted as a receptor of a chemical warfare agent was chemically attached on the GQD via the diazonium coupling reaction of HFHPB diazonium salt, providing new HFHPB-GQD material. With a help of the electron withdrawing HFHPB group, the energy band gap of the HFHPB-GQD was widened and its PL decay life time decreased. As designed, after addition of dimethyl methyl phosphonate (DMMP), the PL intensity of HFHPB-GQD sensor sharply increased up to approximately 200% through a hydrogen bond with DMMP. The fast response and short recovery time was proven by quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) analysis. This HFHPB-GQD sensor shows highly sensitive to DMMP in comparison with GQD sensor without HFHPB and graphene. In addition, the HFHPB-GQD sensor showed high selectivity only to the phosphonate functional group among many other analytes and also stable enough for real device applications. Thus, the tuning of the band gap of the photoluminescent GQDs may open up new promising strategies for the molecular detection of target substrates. PMID:27991584

  13. Quantum stopwatch: how to store time in a quantum memory.

    PubMed

    Yang, Yuxiang; Chiribella, Giulio; Hayashi, Masahito

    2018-05-01

    Quantum mechanics imposes a fundamental trade-off between the accuracy of time measurements and the size of the systems used as clocks. When the measurements of different time intervals are combined, the errors due to the finite clock size accumulate, resulting in an overall inaccuracy that grows with the complexity of the set-up. Here, we introduce a method that, in principle, eludes the accumulation of errors by coherently transferring information from a quantum clock to a quantum memory of the smallest possible size. Our method could be used to measure the total duration of a sequence of events with enhanced accuracy, and to reduce the amount of quantum communication needed to stabilize clocks in a quantum network.

  14. The quantum phase-transitions of water

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fillaux, François

    2017-08-01

    It is shown that hexagonal ices and steam are macroscopically quantum condensates, with continuous spacetime-translation symmetry, whereas liquid water is a quantum fluid with broken time-translation symmetry. Fusion and vaporization are quantum phase-transitions. The heat capacities, the latent heats, the phase-transition temperatures, the critical temperature, the molar volume expansion of ice relative to water, as well as neutron scattering data and dielectric measurements are explained. The phase-transition mechanisms along with the key role of quantum interferences and that of Hartley-Shannon's entropy are enlightened. The notions of chemical bond and force-field are questioned.

  15. Elucidating reaction mechanisms on quantum computers.

    PubMed

    Reiher, Markus; Wiebe, Nathan; Svore, Krysta M; Wecker, Dave; Troyer, Matthias

    2017-07-18

    With rapid recent advances in quantum technology, we are close to the threshold of quantum devices whose computational powers can exceed those of classical supercomputers. Here, we show that a quantum computer can be used to elucidate reaction mechanisms in complex chemical systems, using the open problem of biological nitrogen fixation in nitrogenase as an example. We discuss how quantum computers can augment classical computer simulations used to probe these reaction mechanisms, to significantly increase their accuracy and enable hitherto intractable simulations. Our resource estimates show that, even when taking into account the substantial overhead of quantum error correction, and the need to compile into discrete gate sets, the necessary computations can be performed in reasonable time on small quantum computers. Our results demonstrate that quantum computers will be able to tackle important problems in chemistry without requiring exorbitant resources.

  16. Elucidating reaction mechanisms on quantum computers

    PubMed Central

    Reiher, Markus; Wiebe, Nathan; Svore, Krysta M.; Wecker, Dave; Troyer, Matthias

    2017-01-01

    With rapid recent advances in quantum technology, we are close to the threshold of quantum devices whose computational powers can exceed those of classical supercomputers. Here, we show that a quantum computer can be used to elucidate reaction mechanisms in complex chemical systems, using the open problem of biological nitrogen fixation in nitrogenase as an example. We discuss how quantum computers can augment classical computer simulations used to probe these reaction mechanisms, to significantly increase their accuracy and enable hitherto intractable simulations. Our resource estimates show that, even when taking into account the substantial overhead of quantum error correction, and the need to compile into discrete gate sets, the necessary computations can be performed in reasonable time on small quantum computers. Our results demonstrate that quantum computers will be able to tackle important problems in chemistry without requiring exorbitant resources. PMID:28674011

  17. Elucidating reaction mechanisms on quantum computers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Reiher, Markus; Wiebe, Nathan; Svore, Krysta M.; Wecker, Dave; Troyer, Matthias

    2017-07-01

    With rapid recent advances in quantum technology, we are close to the threshold of quantum devices whose computational powers can exceed those of classical supercomputers. Here, we show that a quantum computer can be used to elucidate reaction mechanisms in complex chemical systems, using the open problem of biological nitrogen fixation in nitrogenase as an example. We discuss how quantum computers can augment classical computer simulations used to probe these reaction mechanisms, to significantly increase their accuracy and enable hitherto intractable simulations. Our resource estimates show that, even when taking into account the substantial overhead of quantum error correction, and the need to compile into discrete gate sets, the necessary computations can be performed in reasonable time on small quantum computers. Our results demonstrate that quantum computers will be able to tackle important problems in chemistry without requiring exorbitant resources.

  18. Simple method for experimentally testing any form of quantum contextuality

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cabello, Adán

    2016-03-01

    Contextuality provides a unifying paradigm for nonclassical aspects of quantum probabilities and resources of quantum information. Unfortunately, most forms of quantum contextuality remain experimentally unexplored due to the difficulty of performing sequences of projective measurements on individual quantum systems. Here we show that two-point correlations between binary compatible observables are sufficient to reveal any form of contextuality. This allows us to design simple experiments that are more robust against imperfections and easier to analyze, thus opening the door for observing interesting forms of contextuality, including those requiring quantum systems of high dimensions. In addition, it allows us to connect contextuality to communication complexity scenarios and reformulate a recent result relating contextuality and quantum computation.

  19. Elucidating Reaction Mechanisms on Quantum Computers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wiebe, Nathan; Reiher, Markus; Svore, Krysta; Wecker, Dave; Troyer, Matthias

    We show how a quantum computer can be employed to elucidate reaction mechanisms in complex chemical systems, using the open problem of biological nitrogen fixation in nitrogenase as an example. We discuss how quantum computers can augment classical-computer simulations for such problems, to significantly increase their accuracy and enable hitherto intractable simulations. Detailed resource estimates show that, even when taking into account the substantial overhead of quantum error correction, and the need to compile into discrete gate sets, the necessary computations can be performed in reasonable time on small quantum computers. This demonstrates that quantum computers will realistically be able to tackle important problems in chemistry that are both scientifically and economically significant.

  20. Biosynthesis of luminescent CdS quantum dots using plant hairy root culture

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Borovaya, Mariya N.; Naumenko, Antonina P.; Matvieieva, Nadia A.; Blume, Yaroslav B.; Yemets, Alla I.

    2014-12-01

    CdS nanoparticles have a great potential for application in chemical research, bioscience and medicine. The aim of this study was to develop an efficient and environmentally-friendly method of plant-based biosynthesis of CdS quantum dots using hairy root culture of Linaria maroccana L. By incubating Linaria root extract with inorganic cadmium sulfate and sodium sulfide we synthesized stable luminescent CdS nanocrystals with absorption peaks for UV-visible spectrometry at 362 nm, 398 nm and 464 nm, and luminescent peaks at 425, 462, 500 nm. Transmission electron microscopy of produced quantum dots revealed their spherical shape with a size predominantly from 5 to 7 nm. Electron diffraction pattern confirmed the wurtzite crystalline structure of synthesized cadmium sulfide quantum dots. These results describe the first successful attempt of quantum dots synthesis using plant extract.

  1. A Robust Blind Quantum Copyright Protection Method for Colored Images Based on Owner's Signature

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Heidari, Shahrokh; Gheibi, Reza; Houshmand, Monireh; Nagata, Koji

    2017-08-01

    Watermarking is the imperceptible embedding of watermark bits into multimedia data in order to use for different applications. Among all its applications, copyright protection is the most prominent usage which conceals information about the owner in the carrier, so as to prohibit others from assertion copyright. This application requires high level of robustness. In this paper, a new blind quantum copyright protection method based on owners's signature in RGB images is proposed. The method utilizes one of the RGB channels as indicator and two remained channels are used for embedding information about the owner. In our contribution the owner's signature is considered as a text. Therefore, in order to embed in colored image as watermark, a new quantum representation of text based on ASCII character set is offered. Experimental results which are analyzed in MATLAB environment, exhibit that the presented scheme shows good performance against attacks and can be used to find out who the real owner is. Finally, the discussed quantum copyright protection method is compared with a related work that our analysis confirm that the presented scheme is more secure and applicable than the previous ones currently found in the literature.

  2. Quantum speed limits in open system dynamics.

    PubMed

    del Campo, A; Egusquiza, I L; Plenio, M B; Huelga, S F

    2013-02-01

    Bounds to the speed of evolution of a quantum system are of fundamental interest in quantum metrology, quantum chemical dynamics, and quantum computation. We derive a time-energy uncertainty relation for open quantum systems undergoing a general, completely positive, and trace preserving evolution which provides a bound to the quantum speed limit. When the evolution is of the Lindblad form, the bound is analogous to the Mandelstam-Tamm relation which applies in the unitary case, with the role of the Hamiltonian being played by the adjoint of the generator of the dynamical semigroup. The utility of the new bound is exemplified in different scenarios, ranging from the estimation of the passage time to the determination of precision limits for quantum metrology in the presence of dephasing noise.

  3. Investigation of trypsin-CdSe quantum dot interactions via spectroscopic methods and effects on enzymatic activity.

    PubMed

    Kaur, Gurvir; Tripathi, S K

    2015-01-05

    The paper presents the interactions between trypsin and water soluble cadmium selenide (CdSe) quantum dots investigated by spectrophotometric methods. CdSe quantum dots have strong ability to quench the intrinsic fluorescence of trypsin by a static quenching mechanism. The quenching has been studied at three different temperatures where the results revealed that electrostatic interactions exist between CdSe quantum dots and trypsin and are responsible to stabilize the complex. The Scatchard plot from quenching revealed 1 binding site for quantum dots by trypsin, the same has been confirmed by making isothermal titrations of quantum dots against trypsin. The distance between donor and acceptor for trypsin-CdSe quantum dot complexes is calculated to be 2.8 nm by energy transfer mechanisms. The intrinsic fluorescence of CdSe quantum dots has also been enhanced by the trypsin, and is linear for concentration of trypsin ranging 1-80 μl. All the observations evidence the formation of trypsin-CdSe quantum dot conjugates, where trypsin retains the enzymatic activity which in turn is temperature and pH dependent. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  4. Silicon Oxysulfide, OSiS: Rotational Spectrum, Quantum-Chemical Calculations, and Equilibrium Structure.

    PubMed

    Thorwirth, Sven; Mück, Leonie Anna; Gauss, Jürgen; Tamassia, Filippo; Lattanzi, Valerio; McCarthy, Michael C

    2011-06-02

    Silicon oxysulfide, OSiS, and seven of its minor isotopic species have been characterized for the first time in the gas phase at high spectral resolution by means of Fourier transform microwave spectroscopy. The equilibrium structure of OSiS has been determined from the experimental data using calculated vibration-rotation interaction constants. The structural parameters (rO-Si = 1.5064 Å and rSi-S = 1.9133 Å) are in very good agreement with values from high-level quantum chemical calculations using coupled-cluster techniques together with sophisticated additivity and extrapolation schemes. The bond distances in OSiS are very short in comparison with those in SiO and SiS. This unexpected finding is explained by the partial charges calculated for OSiS via a natural population analysis. The results suggest that electrostatic effects rather than multiple bonding are the key factors in determining bonding in this triatomic molecule. The data presented provide the spectroscopic information needed for radio astronomical searches for OSiS.

  5. Quantum Error Correction

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lidar, Daniel A.; Brun, Todd A.

    2013-09-01

    Prologue; Preface; Part I. Background: 1. Introduction to decoherence and noise in open quantum systems Daniel Lidar and Todd Brun; 2. Introduction to quantum error correction Dave Bacon; 3. Introduction to decoherence-free subspaces and noiseless subsystems Daniel Lidar; 4. Introduction to quantum dynamical decoupling Lorenza Viola; 5. Introduction to quantum fault tolerance Panos Aliferis; Part II. Generalized Approaches to Quantum Error Correction: 6. Operator quantum error correction David Kribs and David Poulin; 7. Entanglement-assisted quantum error-correcting codes Todd Brun and Min-Hsiu Hsieh; 8. Continuous-time quantum error correction Ognyan Oreshkov; Part III. Advanced Quantum Codes: 9. Quantum convolutional codes Mark Wilde; 10. Non-additive quantum codes Markus Grassl and Martin Rötteler; 11. Iterative quantum coding systems David Poulin; 12. Algebraic quantum coding theory Andreas Klappenecker; 13. Optimization-based quantum error correction Andrew Fletcher; Part IV. Advanced Dynamical Decoupling: 14. High order dynamical decoupling Zhen-Yu Wang and Ren-Bao Liu; 15. Combinatorial approaches to dynamical decoupling Martin Rötteler and Pawel Wocjan; Part V. Alternative Quantum Computation Approaches: 16. Holonomic quantum computation Paolo Zanardi; 17. Fault tolerance for holonomic quantum computation Ognyan Oreshkov, Todd Brun and Daniel Lidar; 18. Fault tolerant measurement-based quantum computing Debbie Leung; Part VI. Topological Methods: 19. Topological codes Héctor Bombín; 20. Fault tolerant topological cluster state quantum computing Austin Fowler and Kovid Goyal; Part VII. Applications and Implementations: 21. Experimental quantum error correction Dave Bacon; 22. Experimental dynamical decoupling Lorenza Viola; 23. Architectures Jacob Taylor; 24. Error correction in quantum communication Mark Wilde; Part VIII. Critical Evaluation of Fault Tolerance: 25. Hamiltonian methods in QEC and fault tolerance Eduardo Novais, Eduardo Mucciolo and

  6. Molecular structure of tris(cyclopropylsilyl)amine as determined by gas electron diffraction and quantum-chemical calculations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vishnevskiy, Yuri V.; Abaev, Maxim A.; Ivanov, Arkadii A.; Vilkov, Lev V.; Dakkouri, Marwan

    2008-10-01

    The molecular structure and conformation of tris(cyclopropylsilyl)amine (TCPSA) has been studied by means of gas-phase electron diffraction at 338 K and quantum-chemical calculations. A total of 12 relatively stable conformations of TCPSA molecule were considered. According to the experimental results and the DFT calculations the most stable conformer corresponds to a configuration (according to the Prelog-Klyne notation) of the type (-ac)(-ac)(+ac)-(-ac)(-ac)(+ac), where the first three parentheses describe the three different Si-N-Si-C torsional angles and the latter ones depict the rotation of the three cyclopropyl groups about the C ring-Si axes, respectively. The quantum-mechanical calculations were performed using various density functional (B3LYP, X3LYP and O3LYP) and perturbation MP2 methods in combination with double- and triple- ζ basis sets plus polarization and diffuse functions. The most important experimental geometrical parameters of TCPSA ( ra Å, ∠ h1 degrees) are: (Si-N) av = 1.741(3), (Si-C) av = 1.866(4), (C-C) av = 1.510(3), (C-C(Si)) av = 1.535(3), (N-Si-C) av = 115.1(18)°. For the purpose of comparison and searching for reasons leading to the planarity of the Si 3N moiety in trisilylated amines we carried out NBO analysis and optimized the geometries of numerous silylamines. Among these compounds was tris(allylsilyl)amine (TASA), which is isovalent and isoelectronic to TCPSA. Utilizing the structural results we obtained we could show that Si +⋯Si + electrostatic repulsive interaction is predominantly responsible for the planarity of the Si 3N skeleton in TCPSA and in all other trisilylamines we considered. We also found that regardless the size and partial charges of the substituents the Si-N-Si bond angle in various disilylamines amounts to 130 ± 2°.

  7. Momentum Distribution as a Fingerprint of Quantum Delocalization in Enzymatic Reactions: Open-Chain Path-Integral Simulations of Model Systems and the Hydride Transfer in Dihydrofolate Reductase.

    PubMed

    Engel, Hamutal; Doron, Dvir; Kohen, Amnon; Major, Dan Thomas

    2012-04-10

    The inclusion of nuclear quantum effects such as zero-point energy and tunneling is of great importance in studying condensed phase chemical reactions involving the transfer of protons, hydrogen atoms, and hydride ions. In the current work, we derive an efficient quantum simulation approach for the computation of the momentum distribution in condensed phase chemical reactions. The method is based on a quantum-classical approach wherein quantum and classical simulations are performed separately. The classical simulations use standard sampling techniques, whereas the quantum simulations employ an open polymer chain path integral formulation which is computed using an efficient Monte Carlo staging algorithm. The approach is validated by applying it to a one-dimensional harmonic oscillator and symmetric double-well potential. Subsequently, the method is applied to the dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) catalyzed reduction of 7,8-dihydrofolate by nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate hydride (NADPH) to yield S-5,6,7,8-tetrahydrofolate and NADP(+). The key chemical step in the catalytic cycle of DHFR involves a stereospecific hydride transfer. In order to estimate the amount of quantum delocalization, we compute the position and momentum distributions for the transferring hydride ion in the reactant state (RS) and transition state (TS) using a recently developed hybrid semiempirical quantum mechanics-molecular mechanics potential energy surface. Additionally, we examine the effect of compression of the donor-acceptor distance (DAD) in the TS on the momentum distribution. The present results suggest differential quantum delocalization in the RS and TS, as well as reduced tunneling upon DAD compression.

  8. Quantum neuromorphic hardware for quantum artificial intelligence

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Prati, Enrico

    2017-08-01

    The development of machine learning methods based on deep learning boosted the field of artificial intelligence towards unprecedented achievements and application in several fields. Such prominent results were made in parallel with the first successful demonstrations of fault tolerant hardware for quantum information processing. To which extent deep learning can take advantage of the existence of a hardware based on qubits behaving as a universal quantum computer is an open question under investigation. Here I review the convergence between the two fields towards implementation of advanced quantum algorithms, including quantum deep learning.

  9. 1-Methoxy-1-silacyclohexane: Synthesis, molecular structure and conformational behavior by gas electron diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and quantum chemical calculations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shlykov, Sergey A.; Puchkov, Boris V.; Arnason, Ingvar; Wallevik, Sunna Ó.; Giricheva, Nina I.; Girichev, Georgiy V.; Zhabanov, Yuriy A.

    2018-02-01

    The synthesis and results of gas electron diffraction (GED), temperature-dependent Raman spectroscopy, along with detailed quantum chemical (QC) study of 1-methoxy-1-silacyclohexane 1 are reported. Within the series of the QC results, DFT(B3LYP, PBE0, M06, M062X), and MP2, the conformational preference predictions are rather contradictive. From the both GED and Raman experimental methods applied, the vapour and liquid phases of 1 were found to exist as a mixture of two conformers, gauche-axial and gauche-equatorial, with almost equal contributions, while the trans-forms are much less stable. In addition, theoretical calculations on the cyclohexane analog, methoxycyclohexane 2, are performed in order to compare with the conformational properties of 1. The latter is predicted not to diminish the axial/equatorial ratio, as contrasted to the expectations at switching the point of the substituent attachment from Si to C.

  10. Low Temperature Synthesis of CdSe Quantum Dots with Amine Derivative and Their Chemical Kinetics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Seongmi Hwang,; Youngmin Choi,; Sunho Jeong,; Hakyun Jung,; Chang Gyoun Kim,; Teak-Mo Chung,; Beyong-Hwan Ryu,

    2010-05-01

    The chemical kinetics of growing CdSe nanocrystals was studied in order to investigate the effects of amine capping agents on the size of resulting quantum dots (QDs). CdSe QDs were prepared in phenyl ether, and the amine ligand dependence of QD size was determined. The results show that the size of CdSe nanocrystals can be regulated by controlling reaction rate, with smaller QDs being formed in slower processes. The results of photoluminescence (PL) studies show that the emission wavelengths of the QDs well correlate with particle size. This simple process for forming different-sized QDs, which uses a cheap solvent and various capping agents, has the potential for preparing CdSe nanocrystals more economically.

  11. Quantum sequencing: opportunities and challenges

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    di Ventra, Massimiliano

    Personalized or precision medicine refers to the ability of tailoring drugs to the specific genome and transcriptome of each individual. It is however not yet feasible due the high costs and slow speed of present DNA sequencing methods. I will discuss a sequencing protocol that requires the measurement of the distributions of transverse tunneling currents during the translocation of single-stranded DNA into nanochannels. I will show that such a quantum sequencing approach can reach unprecedented speeds, without requiring any chemical preparation, amplification or labeling. I will discuss recent experiments that support these theoretical predictions, the advantages of this approach over other sequencing methods, and stress the challenges that need to be overcome to render it commercially viable.

  12. ExcelAutomat: a tool for systematic processing of files as applied to quantum chemical calculations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Laloo, Jalal Z. A.; Laloo, Nassirah; Rhyman, Lydia; Ramasami, Ponnadurai

    2017-07-01

    The processing of the input and output files of quantum chemical calculations often necessitates a spreadsheet as a key component of the workflow. Spreadsheet packages with a built-in programming language editor can automate the steps involved and thus provide a direct link between processing files and the spreadsheet. This helps to reduce user-interventions as well as the need to switch between different programs to carry out each step. The ExcelAutomat tool is the implementation of this method in Microsoft Excel (MS Excel) using the default Visual Basic for Application (VBA) programming language. The code in ExcelAutomat was adapted to work with the platform-independent open-source LibreOffice Calc, which also supports VBA. ExcelAutomat provides an interface through the spreadsheet to automate repetitive tasks such as merging input files, splitting, parsing and compiling data from output files, and generation of unique filenames. Selected extracted parameters can be retrieved as variables which can be included in custom codes for a tailored approach. ExcelAutomat works with Gaussian files and is adapted for use with other computational packages including the non-commercial GAMESS. ExcelAutomat is available as a downloadable MS Excel workbook or as a LibreOffice workbook.

  13. ExcelAutomat: a tool for systematic processing of files as applied to quantum chemical calculations.

    PubMed

    Laloo, Jalal Z A; Laloo, Nassirah; Rhyman, Lydia; Ramasami, Ponnadurai

    2017-07-01

    The processing of the input and output files of quantum chemical calculations often necessitates a spreadsheet as a key component of the workflow. Spreadsheet packages with a built-in programming language editor can automate the steps involved and thus provide a direct link between processing files and the spreadsheet. This helps to reduce user-interventions as well as the need to switch between different programs to carry out each step. The ExcelAutomat tool is the implementation of this method in Microsoft Excel (MS Excel) using the default Visual Basic for Application (VBA) programming language. The code in ExcelAutomat was adapted to work with the platform-independent open-source LibreOffice Calc, which also supports VBA. ExcelAutomat provides an interface through the spreadsheet to automate repetitive tasks such as merging input files, splitting, parsing and compiling data from output files, and generation of unique filenames. Selected extracted parameters can be retrieved as variables which can be included in custom codes for a tailored approach. ExcelAutomat works with Gaussian files and is adapted for use with other computational packages including the non-commercial GAMESS. ExcelAutomat is available as a downloadable MS Excel workbook or as a LibreOffice workbook.

  14. Quantum lithography beyond the diffraction limit via Rabi-oscillations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liao, Zeyang; Al-Amri, Mohammad; Zubairy, M. Suhail

    2011-03-01

    We propose a quantum optical method to do the sub-wavelength lithography. Our method is similar to the traditional lithography but adding a critical step before dissociating the chemical bound of the photoresist. The subwavelength pattern is achieved by inducing the multi-Rabi-oscillation between the two atomic levels. The proposed method does not require multiphoton absorption and the entanglement of photons. This method is expected to be realizable using current technology. This work is supported by a grant from the Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) under the NPRP project and a grant from the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST).

  15. The Interplay of Quantum Confinement and Hydrogenation in Amorphous Silicon Quantum Dots.

    PubMed

    Askari, Sadegh; Svrcek, Vladmir; Maguire, Paul; Mariotti, Davide

    2015-12-22

    Hydrogenation in amorphous silicon quantum dots (QDs) has a dramatic impact on the corresponding optical properties and band energy structure, leading to a quantum-confined composite material with unique characteristics. The synthesis of a-Si:H QDs is demonstrated with an atmospheric-pressure plasma process, which allows for accurate control of a highly chemically reactive non-equilibrium environment with temperatures well below the crystallization temperature of Si QDs. © 2015 The Authors. Published by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  16. Interactions of ionic liquids and acetone: thermodynamic properties, quantum-chemical calculations, and NMR analysis.

    PubMed

    Ruiz, Elia; Ferro, Victor R; Palomar, Jose; Ortega, Juan; Rodriguez, Juan Jose

    2013-06-20

    The interactions between ionic liquids (ILs) and acetone have been studied to obtain a further understanding of the behavior of their mixtures, which generally give place to an exothermic process, mutual miscibility, and negative deviation of Raoult's law. COSMO-RS was used as a suitable computational method to systematically analyze the excess enthalpy of IL-acetone systems (>300), in terms of the intermolecular interactions contributing to the mixture behavior. Spectroscopic and COSMO-RS results indicated that acetone, as a polar compound with strong hydrogen bond acceptor character, in most cases, establishes favorable hydrogen bonding with ILs. This interaction is strengthened by the presence of an acidic cation and an anion with dispersed charge and non-HB acceptor character in the IL. COSMO-RS predictions indicated that gas-liquid and vapor-liquid equilibrium data for IL-acetone systems can be finely tuned by the IL selection, that is, acting on the intermolecular interactions between the molecular and ionic species in the liquid phase. NMR measurements for IL-acetone mixtures at different concentrations were also carried out. Quantum-chemical calculations by using molecular clusters of acetone and IL species were finally performed. These results provided additional evidence of the main role played by hydrogen bonding in the behavior of systems containing ILs and HB acceptor compounds, such as acetone.

  17. Some new reaction pathways for the formation of cytosine in interstellar space - A quantum chemical study

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gupta, V. P.; Tandon, Poonam; Mishra, Priti

    2013-03-01

    The detection of nucleic acid bases in carbonaceous meteorites suggests that their formation and survival is possible outside of the Earth. Small N-heterocycles, including pyrimidine, purines and nucleobases, have been extensively sought in the interstellar medium. It has been suggested theoretically that reactions between some interstellar molecules may lead to the formation of cytosine, uracil and thymine though these processes involve significantly high potential barriers. We attempted therefore to use quantum chemical techniques to explore if cytosine can possibly form in the interstellar space by radical-radical and radical-molecule interaction schemes, both in the gas phase and in the grains, through barrier-less or low barrier pathways. Results of DFT calculations for the formation of cytosine starting from some of the simple molecules and radicals detected in the interstellar space are being reported. Global and local descriptors such as molecular hardness, softness and electrophilicity, and condensed Fukui functions and local philicity indices were used to understand the mechanistic aspects of chemical reaction. The presence and nature of weak bonds in the molecules and transition states formed during the reaction process have been ascertained using Bader's quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIMs). Two exothermic reaction pathways starting from propynylidyne (CCCH) and cyanoacetylene (HCCCN), respectively, have been identified. While the first reaction path is found to be totally exothermic, it involves a barrier of 12.5 kcal/mol in the gas phase against the lowest value of about 32 kcal/mol reported in the literature. The second path is both exothermic and barrier-less. The later has, therefore, a greater probability of occurrence in the cold interstellar clouds (10-50 K).

  18. Electron-phonon thermalization in a scalable method for real-time quantum dynamics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rizzi, Valerio; Todorov, Tchavdar N.; Kohanoff, Jorge J.; Correa, Alfredo A.

    2016-01-01

    We present a quantum simulation method that follows the dynamics of out-of-equilibrium many-body systems of electrons and oscillators in real time. Its cost is linear in the number of oscillators and it can probe time scales from attoseconds to hundreds of picoseconds. Contrary to Ehrenfest dynamics, it can thermalize starting from a variety of initial conditions, including electronic population inversion. While an electronic temperature can be defined in terms of a nonequilibrium entropy, a Fermi-Dirac distribution in general emerges only after thermalization. These results can be used to construct a kinetic model of electron-phonon equilibration based on the explicit quantum dynamics.

  19. Rotational Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemical Calculations of a Fruit Ester: the Microwave Spectrum of n-BUTYL Acetate

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Attig, T.; Sutikdja, L. W.; Kannengiesser, R.; Stahl, W.; Kleiner, I.

    2013-06-01

    In the course of our studies on a number of aliphatic ester molecules and natural substances, the rotational spectrum of n-butyl acetate (CH_{3}-COO-C_4H_9) has been recorded for the first time in the 10-13.5 GHz frequency range, using the MB-FTMW spectrometer in Aachen, with an instrumental uncertainty of a few kHz for unblended lines. Three conformers were observed. The main conformer with C_{1} symmetry has a strong spectrum. The other two conformers have C_{s} and C_{1} symmetries. Their intensities are considerably weaker. The quantum chemical calculations of specific conformers were carried out at the MP2/6-311++G(d,p) level, and for the main conformer different levels of theory were calculated. To analyze the internal rotation of the acetyl methyl groups the codes XIAM (based on the Combined Axis Method) and BELGI (based on the Rho-Axis-Method) were used to model the large amplitude motion. The molecular structures of the three conformers were determined and the values of the experimental rotational constants were compared with those obtained by ab initio methods. For all conformers torsional barriers of approximately 100 cm^{-1} were found. This study is part of a larger project which aims at determining the lowest energy conformers and their structures of organic esters and ketones which are of interest for flavour or perfume synthetic applications. Project partly supported by the PHC PROCOPE 25059YB

  20. On Macroscopic Quantum Phenomena in Biomolecules and Cells: From Levinthal to Hopfield

    PubMed Central

    Raković, Dejan; Dugić, Miroljub; Jeknić-Dugić, Jasmina; Plavšić, Milenko; Jaćimovski, Stevo; Šetrajčić, Jovan

    2014-01-01

    In the context of the macroscopic quantum phenomena of the second kind, we hereby seek for a solution-in-principle of the long standing problem of the polymer folding, which was considered by Levinthal as (semi)classically intractable. To illuminate it, we applied quantum-chemical and quantum decoherence approaches to conformational transitions. Our analyses imply the existence of novel macroscopic quantum biomolecular phenomena, with biomolecular chain folding in an open environment considered as a subtle interplay between energy and conformation eigenstates of this biomolecule, governed by quantum-chemical and quantum decoherence laws. On the other hand, within an open biological cell, a system of all identical (noninteracting and dynamically noncoupled) biomolecular proteins might be considered as corresponding spatial quantum ensemble of these identical biomolecular processors, providing spatially distributed quantum solution to a single corresponding biomolecular chain folding, whose density of conformational states might be represented as Hopfield-like quantum-holographic associative neural network too (providing an equivalent global quantum-informational alternative to standard molecular-biology local biochemical approach in biomolecules and cells and higher hierarchical levels of organism, as well). PMID:25028662

  1. Sealed-bladdered chemical processing method and apparatus

    DOEpatents

    Harless, D. Phillip

    1999-01-01

    A method and apparatus which enables a complete multi-stepped chemical treatment process to occur within a single, sealed-bladdered vessel 31. The entire chemical process occurs without interruption of the sealed-bladdered vessel 31 such as opening the sealed-bladdered vessel 31 between various steps of the process. The sealed-bladdered vessel 31 is loaded with a batch to be dissolved, treated, decanted, rinsed and/or dried. A pressure filtration step may also occur. The self-contained chemical processing apparatus 32 contains a sealed-bladder 32, a fluid pump 34, a reservoir 20, a compressed gas inlet, a vacuum pump 24, and a cold trap 23 as well as the associated piping 33, numerous valves 21,22,25,26,29,30,35,36 and other controls associated with such an apparatus. The claimed invention allows for dissolution and/or chemical treatment without the operator of the self-contained chemical processing apparatus 38 coming into contact with any of the process materials.

  2. Synthesis and characterization of CdSe/ZnS quantum dots conjugated with poly (ethylene glycol) diamine

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Bharti, Shivani; Tripathi, S. K., E-mail: surya@pu.ac.in; Kaur, Gurvir

    2015-08-28

    Bio-functionalization or surface modification is an important technique to obtain biocompatibility in semiconductor nanoparticles for biomedical applications. In this study semiconductor core/shell quantum dots of CdSe/ZnS have been prepared by chemical reduction method and then further PEGylated using Poly(ethylene glycol) diamine of M{sub w} 2000. They were characterized by UV-vis spectroscopy & Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The results reveals the successful PEGylation of CdSe/ZnS quantum dots.

  3. Playing distributed two-party quantum games on quantum networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Bo-Yang; Dai, Hong-Yi; Zhang, Ming

    2017-12-01

    This paper investigates quantum games between two remote players on quantum networks. We propose two schemes for distributed remote quantum games: the client-server scheme based on states transmission between nodes of the network and the peer-to-peer scheme devised upon remote quantum operations. Following these schemes, we construct two designs of the distributed prisoners' dilemma game on quantum entangling networks, where concrete methods are employed for teleportation and nonlocal two-qubits unitary gates, respectively. It seems to us that the requirement for playing distributed quantum games on networks is still an open problem. We explore this problem by comparing and characterizing the two schemes from the viewpoints of network structures, quantum and classical operations, experimental realization and simplification.

  4. Quantum Yield Heterogeneity among Single Nonblinking Quantum Dots Revealed by Atomic Structure-Quantum Optics Correlation

    DOE PAGES

    Orfield, Noah J.; McBride, James R.; Wang, Feng; ...

    2016-02-05

    Physical variations in colloidal nanostructures give rise to heterogeneity in expressed optical behavior. This correlation between nanoscale structure and function demands interrogation of both atomic structure and photophysics at the level of single nanostructures to be fully understood. In this paper, by conducting detailed analyses of fine atomic structure, chemical composition, and time-resolved single-photon photoluminescence data for the same individual nanocrystals, we reveal inhomogeneity in the quantum yields of single nonblinking “giant” CdSe/CdS core/shell quantum dots (g-QDs). We find that each g-QD possesses distinctive single exciton and biexciton quantum yields that result mainly from variations in the degree of charging,more » rather than from volume or structure inhomogeneity. We further establish that there is a very limited nonemissive “dark” fraction (<2%) among the studied g-QDs and present direct evidence that the g-QD core must lack inorganic passivation for the g-QD to be “dark”. Finally and therefore, in contrast to conventional QDs, ensemble photoluminescence quantum yield is principally defined by charging processes rather than the existence of dark g-QDs.« less

  5. Bohm's Quantum Potential and the Visualization of Molecular Structure

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Levit, Creon; Chancellor, Marisa K. (Technical Monitor)

    1997-01-01

    David Bohm's ontological interpretation of quantum theory can shed light on otherwise counter-intuitive quantum mechanical phenomena including chemical bonding. In the field of quantum chemistry, Richard Bader has shown that the topology of the Laplacian of the electronic charge density characterizes many features of molecular structure and reactivity. Visual and computational examination suggests that the Laplacian of Bader and the quantum potential of Bohm are morphologically equivalent. It appears that Bohmian mechanics and the quantum potential can make chemistry as clear as they makes physics.

  6. Quantum Cascade Laser Absorption Spectroscopy as a Plasma Diagnostic Tool: An Overview

    PubMed Central

    Welzel, Stefan; Hempel, Frank; Hübner, Marko; Lang, Norbert; Davies, Paul B.; Röpcke, Jürgen

    2010-01-01

    The recent availability of thermoelectrically cooled pulsed and continuous wave quantum and inter-band cascade lasers in the mid-infrared spectral region has led to significant improvements and new developments in chemical sensing techniques using in-situ laser absorption spectroscopy for plasma diagnostic purposes. The aim of this article is therefore two-fold: (i) to summarize the challenges which arise in the application of quantum cascade lasers in such environments, and, (ii) to provide an overview of recent spectroscopic results (encompassing cavity enhanced methods) obtained in different kinds of plasma used in both research and industry. PMID:22163581

  7. Quantum cascade laser absorption spectroscopy as a plasma diagnostic tool: an overview.

    PubMed

    Welzel, Stefan; Hempel, Frank; Hübner, Marko; Lang, Norbert; Davies, Paul B; Röpcke, Jürgen

    2010-01-01

    The recent availability of thermoelectrically cooled pulsed and continuous wave quantum and inter-band cascade lasers in the mid-infrared spectral region has led to significant improvements and new developments in chemical sensing techniques using in-situ laser absorption spectroscopy for plasma diagnostic purposes. The aim of this article is therefore two-fold: (i) to summarize the challenges which arise in the application of quantum cascade lasers in such environments, and, (ii) to provide an overview of recent spectroscopic results (encompassing cavity enhanced methods) obtained in different kinds of plasma used in both research and industry.

  8. Excitonic quantum interference in a quantum dot chain with rings.

    PubMed

    Hong, Suc-Kyoung; Nam, Seog Woo; Yeon, Kyu-Hwang

    2008-04-16

    We demonstrate excitonic quantum interference in a closely spaced quantum dot chain with nanorings. In the resonant dipole-dipole interaction model with direct diagonalization method, we have found a peculiar feature that the excitation of specified quantum dots in the chain is completely inhibited, depending on the orientational configuration of the transition dipole moments and specified initial preparation of the excitation. In practice, these excited states facilitating quantum interference can provide a conceptual basis for quantum interference devices of excitonic hopping.

  9. The structure and photochemical transformation of cyclopropylacetylene radical cation as revealed by matrix EPR and quantum chemical study

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shiryaeva, Ekaterina S.; Tyurin, Daniil A.; Feldman, Vladimir I.

    2012-05-01

    The primary radical cation of cyclopropylacetylene was first characterized by EPR spectroscopy in low-temperature freon matrices. The assignment was confirmed by specific deuteration and quantum-chemical calculations at PBE0 and CCSD(T) levels. Photolysis with visible light led to irreversible transformation of the initial species to a ring-open structure. Detailed computational analysis of energy and magnetic resonance parameters of possible reaction products justified formation of pent-3-en-1-yne radical cation (presumably, a (Z)-isomer). This conclusion was also supported by the effect of specific deuteration.

  10. Combined friction force microscopy and quantum chemical investigation of the tribotronic response at the propylammonium nitrate-graphite interface.

    PubMed

    Li, H; Atkin, R; Page, A J

    2015-06-28

    The energetic origins of the variation in friction with potential at the propylammonium nitrate-graphite interface are revealed using friction force microscopy (FFM) in combination with quantum chemical simulations. For boundary layer lubrication, as the FFM tip slides energy is dissipated via (1) boundary layer ions and (2) expulsion of near-surface ion layers from the space between the surface and advancing tip. Simulations reveal how changing the surface potential changes the ion composition of the boundary and near surface layer, which controls energy dissipation through both pathways, and thus the friction.

  11. Scalable quantum computer architecture with coupled donor-quantum dot qubits

    DOEpatents

    Schenkel, Thomas; Lo, Cheuk Chi; Weis, Christoph; Lyon, Stephen; Tyryshkin, Alexei; Bokor, Jeffrey

    2014-08-26

    A quantum bit computing architecture includes a plurality of single spin memory donor atoms embedded in a semiconductor layer, a plurality of quantum dots arranged with the semiconductor layer and aligned with the donor atoms, wherein a first voltage applied across at least one pair of the aligned quantum dot and donor atom controls a donor-quantum dot coupling. A method of performing quantum computing in a scalable architecture quantum computing apparatus includes arranging a pattern of single spin memory donor atoms in a semiconductor layer, forming a plurality of quantum dots arranged with the semiconductor layer and aligned with the donor atoms, applying a first voltage across at least one aligned pair of a quantum dot and donor atom to control a donor-quantum dot coupling, and applying a second voltage between one or more quantum dots to control a Heisenberg exchange J coupling between quantum dots and to cause transport of a single spin polarized electron between quantum dots.

  12. Molecular structure, electronic properties, NLO, NBO analysis and spectroscopic characterization of Gabapentin with experimental (FT-IR and FT-Raman) techniques and quantum chemical calculations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sinha, Leena; Karabacak, Mehmet; Narayan, V.; Cinar, Mehmet; Prasad, Onkar

    2013-05-01

    Gabapentin (GP), structurally related to the neurotransmitter GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid), mimics the activity of GABA and is also widely used in neurology for the treatment of peripheral neuropathic pain. It exists in zwitterionic form in solid state. The present communication deals with the quantum chemical calculations of energies, geometrical structure and vibrational wavenumbers of GP using density functional (DFT/B3LYP) method with 6-311++G(d,p) basis set. In view of the fact that amino acids exist as zwitterions as well as in the neutral form depending on the environment (solvent, pH, etc.), molecular properties of both the zwitterionic and neutral form of GP have been analyzed. The fundamental vibrational wavenumbers as well as their intensities were calculated and compared with experimental FT-IR and FT-Raman spectra. The fundamental assignments were done on the basis of the total energy distribution (TED) of the vibrational modes, calculated with scaled quantum mechanical (SQM) method. The electric dipole moment, polarizability and the first hyperpolarizability values of the GP have been calculated at the same level of theory and basis set. The nonlinear optical (NLO) behavior of zwitterionic and neutral form has been compared. Stability of the molecule arising from hyper-conjugative interactions and charge delocalization has been analyzed using natural bond orbital analysis. Ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectrum of the title molecule has also been calculated using TD-DFT method. The thermodynamic properties of both the zwitterionic and neutral form of GP at different temperatures have been calculated.

  13. Effects of quantum confinement and shape on band gap of core/shell quantum dots and nanowires

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gao, Faming

    2011-05-01

    A quantum confinement model for nanocrystals developed is extended to study for the optical gap shifts in core/shell quantum dots and nanowires. The chemical bond properties and gap shifts in the InP/ZnS, CdSe/CdS, CdSe/ZnS, and CdTe/ZnS core/shell quantum dots are calculated in detail. The calculated band gaps are in excellent agreement with experimental values. The effects of structural taping and twinning on quantum confinement of InP and Si nanowires are elucidated. It is found theoretically that a competition between the positive Kubo energy-gap shift and the negative surface energy shift plays the crucial role in the optical gaps of these nanosystems.

  14. Error Sensitivity to Environmental Noise in Quantum Circuits for Chemical State Preparation.

    PubMed

    Sawaya, Nicolas P D; Smelyanskiy, Mikhail; McClean, Jarrod R; Aspuru-Guzik, Alán

    2016-07-12

    Calculating molecular energies is likely to be one of the first useful applications to achieve quantum supremacy, performing faster on a quantum than a classical computer. However, if future quantum devices are to produce accurate calculations, errors due to environmental noise and algorithmic approximations need to be characterized and reduced. In this study, we use the high performance qHiPSTER software to investigate the effects of environmental noise on the preparation of quantum chemistry states. We simulated 18 16-qubit quantum circuits under environmental noise, each corresponding to a unitary coupled cluster state preparation of a different molecule or molecular configuration. Additionally, we analyze the nature of simple gate errors in noise-free circuits of up to 40 qubits. We find that, in most cases, the Jordan-Wigner (JW) encoding produces smaller errors under a noisy environment as compared to the Bravyi-Kitaev (BK) encoding. For the JW encoding, pure dephasing noise is shown to produce substantially smaller errors than pure relaxation noise of the same magnitude. We report error trends in both molecular energy and electron particle number within a unitary coupled cluster state preparation scheme, against changes in nuclear charge, bond length, number of electrons, noise types, and noise magnitude. These trends may prove to be useful in making algorithmic and hardware-related choices for quantum simulation of molecular energies.

  15. Data-Driven Method to Estimate Nonlinear Chemical Equivalence.

    PubMed

    Mayo, Michael; Collier, Zachary A; Winton, Corey; Chappell, Mark A

    2015-01-01

    There is great need to express the impacts of chemicals found in the environment in terms of effects from alternative chemicals of interest. Methods currently employed in fields such as life-cycle assessment, risk assessment, mixtures toxicology, and pharmacology rely mostly on heuristic arguments to justify the use of linear relationships in the construction of "equivalency factors," which aim to model these concentration-concentration correlations. However, the use of linear models, even at low concentrations, oversimplifies the nonlinear nature of the concentration-response curve, therefore introducing error into calculations involving these factors. We address this problem by reporting a method to determine a concentration-concentration relationship between two chemicals based on the full extent of experimentally derived concentration-response curves. Although this method can be easily generalized, we develop and illustrate it from the perspective of toxicology, in which we provide equations relating the sigmoid and non-monotone, or "biphasic," responses typical of the field. The resulting concentration-concentration relationships are manifestly nonlinear for nearly any chemical level, even at the very low concentrations common to environmental measurements. We demonstrate the method using real-world examples of toxicological data which may exhibit sigmoid and biphasic mortality curves. Finally, we use our models to calculate equivalency factors, and show that traditional results are recovered only when the concentration-response curves are "parallel," which has been noted before, but we make formal here by providing mathematical conditions on the validity of this approach.

  16. Advances in Chemical Mixtures Risk Methods

    EPA Science Inventory

    This presentation is an overview of emerging issues for dose addition in chemical mixtures risk assessment. It is intended to give the participants a perspective of recent developments in methods for dose addition. The workshop abstract is as follows:This problems-based, half-day...

  17. Benchmarking Quantum Mechanics/Molecular Mechanics (QM/MM) Methods on the Thymidylate Synthase-Catalyzed Hydride Transfer.

    PubMed

    Świderek, Katarzyna; Arafet, Kemel; Kohen, Amnon; Moliner, Vicent

    2017-03-14

    Given the ubiquity of hydride-transfer reactions in enzyme-catalyzed processes, identifying the appropriate computational method for evaluating such biological reactions is crucial to perform theoretical studies of these processes. In this paper, the hydride-transfer step catalyzed by thymidylate synthase (TSase) is studied by examining hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) potentials via multiple semiempirical methods and the M06-2X hybrid density functional. Calculations of protium and tritium transfer in these reactions across a range of temperatures allowed calculation of the temperature dependence of kinetic isotope effects (KIE). Dynamics and quantum-tunneling effects are revealed to have little effect on the reaction rate, but are significant in determining the KIEs and their temperature dependence. A good agreement with experiments is found, especially when computed for RM1/MM simulations. The small temperature dependence of quantum tunneling corrections and the quasiclassical contribution term cancel each other, while the recrossing transmission coefficient seems to be temperature-independent over the interval of 5-40 °C.

  18. Photodissociation of quantum state-selected diatomic molecules yields new insight into ultracold chemistry

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McDonald, Mickey; McGuyer, Bart H.; Lee, Chih-Hsi; Apfelbeck, Florian; Zelevinsky, Tanya

    2016-05-01

    When a molecule is subjected to a sufficiently energetic photon it can break apart into fragments through a process called ``photodissociation''. For over 70 years this simple chemical reaction has served as a vital experimental tool for acquiring information about molecular structure, since the character of the photodissociative transition can be inferred by measuring the 3D photofragment angular distribution (PAD). While theoretical understanding of this process has gradually evolved from classical considerations to a fully quantum approach, experiments to date have not yet revealed the full quantum nature of this process. In my talk I will describe recent experiments involving the photodissociation of ultracold, optical lattice-trapped, and fully quantum state-resolved 88Sr2 molecules. Optical absorption images of the PADs produced in these experiments reveal features which are inherently quantum mechanical in nature, such as matter-wave interference between output channels, and are sensitive to the quantum statistics of the molecular wavefunctions. The results of these experiments cannot be predicted using quasiclassical methods. Instead, we describe our results with a fully quantum mechanical model yielding new intuition about ultracold chemistry.

  19. Method And Apparatus For Detecting Chemical Binding

    DOEpatents

    Warner, Benjamin P.; Havrilla, George J.; Miller, Thomasin C.; Wells, Cyndi A.

    2005-02-22

    The method for screening binding between a target binder and potential pharmaceutical chemicals involves sending a solution (preferably an aqueous solution) of the target binder through a conduit to a size exclusion filter, the target binder being too large to pass through the size exclusion filter, and then sending a solution of one or more potential pharmaceutical chemicals (preferably an aqueous solution) through the same conduit to the size exclusion filter after target binder has collected on the filter. The potential pharmaceutical chemicals are small enough to pass through the filter. Afterwards, x-rays are sent from an x-ray source to the size exclusion filter, and if the potential pharmaceutical chemicals form a complex with the target binder, the complex produces an x-ray fluorescence signal having an intensity that indicates that a complex has formed.

  20. Method and apparatus for detecting chemical binding

    DOEpatents

    Warner, Benjamin P [Los Alamos, NM; Havrilla, George J [Los Alamos, NM; Miller, Thomasin C [Los Alamos, NM; Wells, Cyndi A [Los Alamos, NM

    2007-07-10

    The method for screening binding between a target binder and potential pharmaceutical chemicals involves sending a solution (preferably an aqueous solution) of the target binder through a conduit to a size exclusion filter, the target binder being too large to pass through the size exclusion filter, and then sending a solution of one or more potential pharmaceutical chemicals (preferably an aqueous solution) through the same conduit to the size exclusion filter after target binder has collected on the filter. The potential pharmaceutical chemicals are small enough to pass through the filter. Afterwards, x-rays are sent from an x-ray source to the size exclusion filter, and if the potential pharmaceutical chemicals form a complex with the target binder, the complex produces an x-ray fluorescence signal having an intensity that indicates that a complex has formed.

  1. Synthesis and Characterization of Mercaptoacetic Acid Capped Cadmium Sulphide Quantum Dots.

    PubMed

    Wageh, S; Maize, Mai; Donia, A M; Al-Ghamdi, Ahmed A; Umar, Ahmad

    2015-12-01

    This paper reports the facile synthesis and detailed characterization of mercaptoacetic acid capped cadmium sulphide (CdS) quantum dots using various cadmium precursors. The mercaptoacetic acid capped CdS quantum dots were prepared by facile and simple wet chemical method and characterized by several techniques such as energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, UV-vis. spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy, high-resolution transmission microscopy (HRTEM) and thremogravimetric analysis. The EDS studies revealed that the prepared quantum dots possess higher atomic percentage of sulfur compared to cadmium due to the coordination of thiolate to the quantum dots surfaces. The X-ray and absorption analyses exhibited that the size of quantum dots prepared by cadmium acetate is larger than the quantum dots prepared by cadmium chloride and cadmium nitrate. The increase in size can be attributed to the low stability constant of cadmium acetate in comparison with cadmium chloride and cadmium nitrate. The FTIR and thermogravimetric analysis showed that the nature of capping molecule on the surface of quantum dots are different depending on the cadmium precursors which affect the emission from CdS quantum dots. Photoemission spectroscopy revealed that the emission of quantum dots prepared by cadmium acetate has high intensity band edge emission along with low intensity trapping state emission. However the CdS quantum dots prepared by cadmium chloride and cadmium nitrate produced only trapping state emissions.

  2. Quantum Gravitational Spectroscopy

    DOE PAGES

    Nesvizhevsky, Valery V.; Antoniadis, Ignatios; Baessler, Stefan; ...

    2015-01-01

    We report that one of the main goals for improving the accuracy of quantum gravitational spectroscopy with neutrons is searches for extra short-range fundamental forces. We discuss also any progress in all competing nonneutron methods as well as constraints at other characteristic distances. Among major methodical developments related to the phenomenon of gravitational quantum states are the detailed theoretical analysis and the planning experiments on observation of gravitational quantum states of antihydrogen atoms.

  3. Electron-phonon thermalization in a scalable method for real-time quantum dynamics

    DOE PAGES

    Rizzi, Valerio; Todorov, Tchavdar N.; Kohanoff, Jorge J.; ...

    2016-01-27

    Here, we present a quantum simulation method that follows the dynamics of out-of-equilibrium many-body systems of electrons and oscillators in real time. Its cost is linear in the number of oscillators and it can probe time scales from attoseconds to hundreds of picoseconds. Contrary to Ehrenfest dynamics, it can thermalize starting from a variety of initial conditions, including electronic population inversion. While an electronic temperature can be defined in terms of a nonequilibrium entropy, a Fermi-Dirac distribution in general emerges only after thermalization. These results can be used to construct a kinetic model of electron-phonon equilibration based on the explicitmore » quantum dynamics.« less

  4. [Bioinorganic chemical composition of the lens and methods of its investigation].

    PubMed

    Avetisov, S E; Novikov, I A; Pakhomova, N A; Motalov, V G

    2018-01-01

    Bioinorganic chemical composition of the lens of human and experimental animals (cows, dogs, rats, rabbits) have been analyzed in various studies. In most cases, the studies employed different methods to determine the gross (total) composition of chemical elements and their concentrations in the examined samples. Less frequently, they included an assessment of the distribution of chemical elements in the lens and correlation of their concentration with its morphological changes. Chemical elements from all groups (series) of the periodic classification system were discovered in the lens substance. Despite similar investigation methods, different authors obtained contradicting results on the chemical composition of the lens. This article presents data suggesting possible correlation between inorganic chemical elements in the lens substance with the development and formation of lenticular opacities. All currently employed methods are known to only analyze limited number of select chemical elements in the tissues and do not consider the whole range of elements that can be analyzed with existing technology; furthermore, the majority of studies are conducted on the animal model lens. Therefore, it is feasible to continue the development of the chemical microanalysis method by increasing the sensitivity of Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM/EDS) with the purpose of assessing the gross chemical composition and distribution of the elements in the lens substance, as well as revealing possible correlation between element concentration and morphological changes in the lens.

  5. Preface: Special Topic on Nuclear Quantum Effects

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tuckerman, Mark; Ceperley, David

    2018-03-01

    Although the observable universe strictly obeys the laws of quantum mechanics, in many instances, a classical description that either ignores quantum effects entirely or accounts for them at a very crude level is sufficient to describe a wide variety of phenomena. However, when this approximation breaks down, as is often the case for processes involving light nuclei, a full quantum treatment becomes indispensable. This Special Topic in The Journal of Chemical Physics showcases recent advances in our understanding of nuclear quantum effects in condensed phases as well as novel algorithmic developments and applications that have enhanced the capability to study these effects.

  6. Preface: Special Topic on Nuclear Quantum Effects.

    PubMed

    Tuckerman, Mark; Ceperley, David

    2018-03-14

    Although the observable universe strictly obeys the laws of quantum mechanics, in many instances, a classical description that either ignores quantum effects entirely or accounts for them at a very crude level is sufficient to describe a wide variety of phenomena. However, when this approximation breaks down, as is often the case for processes involving light nuclei, a full quantum treatment becomes indispensable. This Special Topic in The Journal of Chemical Physics showcases recent advances in our understanding of nuclear quantum effects in condensed phases as well as novel algorithmic developments and applications that have enhanced the capability to study these effects.

  7. Computing Wigner distributions and time correlation functions using the quantum thermal bath method: application to proton transfer spectroscopy.

    PubMed

    Basire, Marie; Borgis, Daniel; Vuilleumier, Rodolphe

    2013-08-14

    Langevin dynamics coupled to a quantum thermal bath (QTB) allows for the inclusion of vibrational quantum effects in molecular dynamics simulations at virtually no additional computer cost. We investigate here the ability of the QTB method to reproduce the quantum Wigner distribution of a variety of model potentials, designed to assess the performances and limits of the method. We further compute the infrared spectrum of a multidimensional model of proton transfer in the gas phase and in solution, using classical trajectories sampled initially from the Wigner distribution. It is shown that for this type of system involving large anharmonicities and strong nonlinear coupling to the environment, the quantum thermal bath is able to sample the Wigner distribution satisfactorily and to account for both zero point energy and tunneling effects. It leads to quantum time correlation functions having the correct short-time behavior, and the correct associated spectral frequencies, but that are slightly too overdamped. This is attributed to the classical propagation approximation rather than the generation of the quantized initial conditions themselves.

  8. Characterization and intramolecular bonding patterns of busulfan: Experimental and quantum chemical approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Karthick, T.; Tandon, Poonam; Singh, Swapnil; Agarwal, Parag; Srivastava, Anubha

    2017-02-01

    The investigations of structural conformers, molecular interactions and vibrational characterization of pharmaceutical drug are helpful to understand their behaviour. In the present work, the 2D potential energy surface (PES) scan has been performed on the dihedral angles C6sbnd O4sbnd S1sbnd C5 and C25sbnd S22sbnd O19sbnd C16 to find the stable conformers of busulfan. In order to show the effects of long range interactions, the structures on the global minima of PES scan have been further optimized by B3LYP/6-311 ++G(d,p) method with and without empirical dispersion functional in Gaussian 09W package. The presence of n → σ* and σ → σ* interactions which lead to stability of the molecule have been predicted by natural bond orbital analysis. The strong and weak hydrogen bonds between the functional groups of busulfan were analyzed using quantum topological atoms in molecules analysis. In order to study the long-range forces, such as van der Waals interactions, steric effect in busulfan, the reduced density gradient as well as isosurface defining these interactions has been plotted using Multiwfn software. The spectroscopic characterization on the solid phase of busulfan has been studied by experimental FT-IR and FT-Raman spectra. From the 13C and 1H NMR spectra, the chemical shifts of individual C and H atoms of busulfan have been predicted. The maximum absorption wavelengths corresponding to the electronic transitions between the highest occupied molecular orbital and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital of busulfan have been found by UV-vis spectrum.

  9. METHOD OF CHEMICAL ANALYSIS FOR OIL SHALE WASTES

    EPA Science Inventory

    Several methods of chemical analysis are described for oil shale wastewaters and retort gases. These methods are designed to support the field testing of various pollution control systems. As such, emphasis has been placed on methods which are rapid and sufficiently rugged to per...

  10. Quantum chemical calculations of glycine glutaric acid

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Arioǧlu, ćaǧla; Tamer, Ömer; Avci, Davut; Atalay, Yusuf

    2017-02-01

    Density functional theory (DFT) calculations of glycine glutaric acid were performed by using B3LYP levels with 6-311++G(d,p) basis set. The theoretical structural parameters such as bond lengths and bond angles are in a good agreement with the experimental values of the title compound. HOMO and LUMO energies were calculated, and the obtained energy gap shows that charge transfer occurs in the title compound. Vibrational frequencies were calculated and compare with experimental ones. 3D molecular surfaces of the title compound were simulated using the same level and basis set. Finally, the 13C and 1H NMR chemical shift values were calculated by the application of the gauge independent atomic orbital (GIAO) method.

  11. Conceptual versus Algorithmic Learning in High School Chemistry: The Case of Basic Quantum Chemical Concepts--Part 1. Statistical Analysis of a Quantitative Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Papaphotis, Georgios; Tsaparlis, Georgios

    2008-01-01

    Part 1 of the findings are presented of a quantitative study (n = 125) on basic quantum chemical concepts taught in the twelfth grade (age 17-18 years) in Greece. A paper-and-pencil test of fourteen questions was used. The study compared performance in five questions that tested recall of knowledge or application of algorithmic procedures (type-A…

  12. Apparatus and method for extraction of chemicals from aquifer remediation effluent water

    DOEpatents

    McMurtrey, Ryan D.; Ginosar, Daniel M.; Moor, Kenneth S.; Shook, G. Michael; Moses, John M.; Barker, Donna L.

    2002-01-01

    An apparatus and method for extraction of chemicals from an aquifer remediation aqueous effluent are provided. The extraction method utilizes a critical fluid for separation and recovery of chemicals employed in remediating aquifers contaminated with hazardous organic substances, and is particularly suited for separation and recovery of organic contaminants and process chemicals used in surfactant-based remediation technologies. The extraction method separates and recovers high-value chemicals from the remediation effluent and minimizes the volume of generated hazardous waste. The recovered chemicals can be recycled to the remediation process or stored for later use.

  13. Method and system for extraction of chemicals from aquifer remediation effluent water

    DOEpatents

    McMurtrey, Ryan D.; Ginosar, Daniel M.; Moor, Kenneth S.; Shook, G. Michael; Barker, Donna L.

    2003-01-01

    A method and system for extraction of chemicals from an groundwater remediation aqueous effluent are provided. The extraction method utilizes a critical fluid for separation and recovery of chemicals employed in remediating groundwater contaminated with hazardous organic substances, and is particularly suited for separation and recovery of organic contaminants and process chemicals used in surfactant-based remediation technologies. The extraction method separates and recovers high-value chemicals from the remediation effluent and minimizes the volume of generated hazardous waste. The recovered chemicals can be recycled to the remediation process or stored for later use.

  14. Controlling the Properties of Matter with Quantum Dots

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Klimov, Victor

    2017-03-22

    Solar cells and photodetectors could soon be made from new types of materials based on semiconductor quantum dots, thanks to new insights based on ultrafast measurements capturing real-time photoconversion processes. Photoconversion is a process wherein the energy of a photon, or quantum of light, is converted into other forms of energy, for example, chemical or electrical. Semiconductor quantum dots are chemically synthesized crystalline nanoparticles that have been studied for more than three decades in the context of various photoconversion schemes including photovoltaics (generation of photo-electricity) and photo-catalysis (generation of “solar fuels”). The appeal of quantum dots comes from the unmatchedmore » tunability of their physical properties, which can be adjusted by controlling the size, shape and composition of the dots. At Los Alamos, the research connects to the institutional mission of solving national security challenges through scientific excellence, in this case focusing on novel physical principles for highly efficient photoconversion, charge manipulation in exploratory device structures and novel nanomaterials.« less

  15. Modeling of the phase equilibria of polystyrene in methylcyclohexane with semi-empirical quantum mechanical methods I.

    PubMed

    Wilczura-Wachnik, Hanna; Jónsdóttir, Svava Osk

    2003-04-01

    A method for calculating interaction parameters traditionally used in phase-equilibrium computations in low-molecular systems has been extended for the prediction of solvent activities of aromatic polymer solutions (polystyrene+methylcyclohexane). Using ethylbenzene as a model compound for the repeating unit of the polymer, the intermolecular interaction energies between the solvent molecule and the polymer were simulated. The semiempirical quantum chemical method AM1, and a method for sampling relevant internal orientations for a pair of molecules developed previously were used. Interaction energies are determined for three molecular pairs, the solvent and the model molecule, two solvent molecules and two model molecules, and used to calculated UNIQUAC interaction parameters, a(ij) and a(ji). Using these parameters, the solvent activities of the polystyrene 90,000 amu+methylcyclohexane system, and the total vapor pressures of the methylcyclohexane+ethylbenzene system were calculated. The latter system was compared to experimental data, giving qualitative agreement. Figure Solvent activities for the methylcylcohexane(1)+polystyrene(2) system at 316 K. Parameters aij (blue line) obtained with the AM1 method; parameters aij (pink line) from VLE data for the ethylbenzene+methylcyclohexane system. The abscissa is the polymer weight fraction defined as y2(x1)=(1mx1)M2/[x1M1+(1mx1)M2], where x1 is the solvent mole fraction and Mi are the molecular weights of the components.

  16. Three-Dimensional Wiring for Extensible Quantum Computing: The Quantum Socket

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Béjanin, J. H.; McConkey, T. G.; Rinehart, J. R.; Earnest, C. T.; McRae, C. R. H.; Shiri, D.; Bateman, J. D.; Rohanizadegan, Y.; Penava, B.; Breul, P.; Royak, S.; Zapatka, M.; Fowler, A. G.; Mariantoni, M.

    2016-10-01

    Quantum computing architectures are on the verge of scalability, a key requirement for the implementation of a universal quantum computer. The next stage in this quest is the realization of quantum error-correction codes, which will mitigate the impact of faulty quantum information on a quantum computer. Architectures with ten or more quantum bits (qubits) have been realized using trapped ions and superconducting circuits. While these implementations are potentially scalable, true scalability will require systems engineering to combine quantum and classical hardware. One technology demanding imminent efforts is the realization of a suitable wiring method for the control and the measurement of a large number of qubits. In this work, we introduce an interconnect solution for solid-state qubits: the quantum socket. The quantum socket fully exploits the third dimension to connect classical electronics to qubits with higher density and better performance than two-dimensional methods based on wire bonding. The quantum socket is based on spring-mounted microwires—the three-dimensional wires—that push directly on a microfabricated chip, making electrical contact. A small wire cross section (approximately 1 mm), nearly nonmagnetic components, and functionality at low temperatures make the quantum socket ideal for operating solid-state qubits. The wires have a coaxial geometry and operate over a frequency range from dc to 8 GHz, with a contact resistance of approximately 150 m Ω , an impedance mismatch of approximately 10 Ω , and minimal cross talk. As a proof of principle, we fabricate and use a quantum socket to measure high-quality superconducting resonators at a temperature of approximately 10 mK. Quantum error-correction codes such as the surface code will largely benefit from the quantum socket, which will make it possible to address qubits located on a two-dimensional lattice. The present implementation of the socket could be readily extended to accommodate a

  17. The acid properties of dodecasubstituted porphyrins with a chemically active NH bond

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Berezin, D. B.; Ivanova, Yu. B.; Sheinin, V. B.

    2007-12-01

    The NH acid properties of nonplanar dodecasubstituted porphyrins (H2P) were studied by the spectropotentiometric and spectrophotometric methods and by semiempirical quantum-chemical calculations. The reaction of H2P with a weak organic base DMSO proceeded with the formation of the H-associated form DMSO⋯H⋯PH or DMSO⋯H⋯P⋯H⋯DMSO. Strong bases KOH[222] and [NR4]OH reacted with the formation of mono-(HP-) or dianionic (P2-) forms. An increase in NH acidity along the series tetraphenylporphin < tetraphenyltetrabenzoporphin < β-octaethyltetraphenylporphin < dodecaphenylporphin < β-octabromotetraphenylporphin was to a great extent caused by the polarization of molecules, which accompanied saddle-nonplanar distortions of their structure, rather than β-substituent electronic effects. The quantitative characteristics obtained using the suggested system of criteria of the chemical activity of NH bonds (1H NMR spectral, kinetic, and quantum-chemical criteria) linearly correlated with H2P acid dissociation constants and could be used for alternative estimation of the acidity of tetrapyrrole compounds.

  18. Quantum tomography for measuring experimentally the matrix elements of an arbitrary quantum operation.

    PubMed

    D'Ariano, G M; Lo Presti, P

    2001-05-07

    Quantum operations describe any state change allowed in quantum mechanics, including the evolution of an open system or the state change due to a measurement. We present a general method based on quantum tomography for measuring experimentally the matrix elements of an arbitrary quantum operation. As input the method needs only a single entangled state. The feasibility of the technique for the electromagnetic field is shown, and the experimental setup is illustrated based on homodyne tomography of a twin beam.

  19. 2D Quantum Simulation of MOSFET Using the Non Equilibrium Green's Function Method

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Svizhenko, Alexel; Anantram, M. P.; Govindan, T. R.; Yan, Jerry (Technical Monitor)

    2000-01-01

    The objectives this viewgraph presentation summarizes include: (1) the development of a quantum mechanical simulator for ultra short channel MOSFET simulation, including theory, physical approximations, and computer code; (2) explore physics that is not accessible by semiclassical methods; (3) benchmarking of semiclassical and classical methods; and (4) study other two-dimensional devices and molecular structure, from discretized Hamiltonian to tight-binding Hamiltonian.

  20. Quantum memristors

    DOE PAGES

    Pfeiffer, P.; Egusquiza, I. L.; Di Ventra, M.; ...

    2016-07-06

    Technology based on memristors, resistors with memory whose resistance depends on the history of the crossing charges, has lately enhanced the classical paradigm of computation with neuromorphic architectures. However, in contrast to the known quantized models of passive circuit elements, such as inductors, capacitors or resistors, the design and realization of a quantum memristor is still missing. Here, we introduce the concept of a quantum memristor as a quantum dissipative device, whose decoherence mechanism is controlled by a continuous-measurement feedback scheme, which accounts for the memory. Indeed, we provide numerical simulations showing that memory effects actually persist in the quantummore » regime. Our quantization method, specifically designed for superconducting circuits, may be extended to other quantum platforms, allowing for memristor-type constructions in different quantum technologies. As a result, the proposed quantum memristor is then a building block for neuromorphic quantum computation and quantum simulations of non-Markovian systems.« less

  1. Energetic Analysis of Conjugated Hydrocarbons Using the Interacting Quantum Atoms Method.

    PubMed

    Jara-Cortés, Jesús; Hernández-Trujillo, Jesús

    2018-07-05

    A number of aromatic, antiaromatic, and nonaromatic organic molecules was analyzed in terms of the contributions to the electronic energy defined in the quantum theory of atoms in molecules and the interacting quantum atoms method. Regularities were found in the exchange and electrostatic interatomic energies showing trends that are closely related to those of the delocalization indices defined in the theory. In particular, the CC interaction energies between bonded atoms allow to rationalize the energetic stabilization associated with the bond length alternation in conjugated polyenes. This approach also provides support to Clar's sextet rules devised for aromatic systems. In addition, the H⋯H bonding found in some of the aromatic molecules studied was of an attractive nature, according to the stabilizing exchange interaction between the bonded H atoms. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  2. Subspace projection method for unstructured searches with noisy quantum oracles using a signal-based quantum emulation device

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    La Cour, Brian R.; Ostrove, Corey I.

    2017-01-01

    This paper describes a novel approach to solving unstructured search problems using a classical, signal-based emulation of a quantum computer. The classical nature of the representation allows one to perform subspace projections in addition to the usual unitary gate operations. Although bandwidth requirements will limit the scale of problems that can be solved by this method, it can nevertheless provide a significant computational advantage for problems of limited size. In particular, we find that, for the same number of noisy oracle calls, the proposed subspace projection method provides a higher probability of success for finding a solution than does an single application of Grover's algorithm on the same device.

  3. Articles of protective clothing adapted for deflecting chemical permeation and methods therefor

    DOEpatents

    Vo-Dinh, Tuan

    1996-01-01

    Apparatus and methods for detecting the permeation of hazardous or toxic chemicals through protective clothing are disclosed. The hazardous or toxic chemicals of interest do not possess the spectral characteristic of luminescence. The apparatus and methods utilize a spectrochemical modification technique to detect the luminescence quenching of an indicator compound which upon permeation of the chemical through the protective clothing, the indicator is exposed to the chemical, thus indicating chemical permeation.

  4. Generalized non-equilibrium vertex correction method in coherent medium theory for quantum transport simulation of disordered nanoelectronics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yan, Jiawei; Ke, Youqi

    In realistic nanoelectronics, disordered impurities/defects are inevitable and play important roles in electron transport. However, due to the lack of effective quantum transport method, the important effects of disorders remain poorly understood. Here, we report a generalized non-equilibrium vertex correction (NVC) method with coherent potential approximation to treat the disorder effects in quantum transport simulation. With this generalized NVC method, any averaged product of two single-particle Green's functions can be obtained by solving a set of simple linear equations. As a result, the averaged non-equilibrium density matrix and various important transport properties, including averaged current, disordered induced current fluctuation and the averaged shot noise, can all be efficiently computed in a unified scheme. Moreover, a generalized form of conditionally averaged non-equilibrium Green's function is derived to incorporate with density functional theory to enable first-principles simulation. We prove the non-equilibrium coherent potential equals the non-equilibrium vertex correction. Our approach provides a unified, efficient and self-consistent method for simulating non-equilibrium quantum transport through disorder nanoelectronics. Shanghaitech start-up fund.

  5. Negative muon chemistry: the quantum muon effect and the finite nuclear mass effect.

    PubMed

    Posada, Edwin; Moncada, Félix; Reyes, Andrés

    2014-10-09

    The any-particle molecular orbital method at the full configuration interaction level has been employed to study atoms in which one electron has been replaced by a negative muon. In this approach electrons and muons are described as quantum waves. A scheme has been proposed to discriminate nuclear mass and quantum muon effects on chemical properties of muonic and regular atoms. This study reveals that the differences in the ionization potentials of isoelectronic muonic atoms and regular atoms are of the order of millielectronvolts. For the valence ionizations of muonic helium and muonic lithium the nuclear mass effects are more important. On the other hand, for 1s ionizations of muonic atoms heavier than beryllium, the quantum muon effects are more important. In addition, this study presents an assessment of the nuclear mass and quantum muon effects on the barrier of Heμ + H2 reaction.

  6. Cryo-mediated exfoliation and fracturing of layered materials into 2D quantum dots

    PubMed Central

    Wang, Yan; Liu, Yang; Zhang, Jianfang; Wu, Jingjie; Xu, Hui; Wen, Xiewen; Zhang, Xiang; Tiwary, Chandra Sekhar; Yang, Wei; Vajtai, Robert; Zhang, Yong; Chopra, Nitin; Odeh, Ihab Nizar; Wu, Yucheng; Ajayan, Pulickel M.

    2017-01-01

    Atomically thin quantum dots from layered materials promise new science and applications, but their scalable synthesis and separation have been challenging. We demonstrate a universal approach for the preparation of quantum dots from a series of materials, such as graphite, MoS2, WS2, h-BN, TiS2, NbS2, Bi2Se3, MoTe2, Sb2Te3, etc., using a cryo-mediated liquid-phase exfoliation and fracturing process. The method relies on liquid nitrogen pretreatment of bulk layered materials before exfoliation and breakdown into atomically thin two-dimensional quantum dots of few-nanometer lateral dimensions, exhibiting size-confined optical properties. This process is efficient for a variety of common solvents with a wide range of surface tension parameters and eliminates the use of surfactants, resulting in pristine quantum dots without surfactant covering or chemical modification. PMID:29250597

  7. Detection of entanglement in asymmetric quantum networks and multipartite quantum steering.

    PubMed

    Cavalcanti, D; Skrzypczyk, P; Aguilar, G H; Nery, R V; Ribeiro, P H Souto; Walborn, S P

    2015-08-03

    The future of quantum communication relies on quantum networks composed by observers sharing multipartite quantum states. The certification of multipartite entanglement will be crucial to the usefulness of these networks. In many real situations it is natural to assume that some observers are more trusted than others in the sense that they have more knowledge of their measurement apparatuses. Here we propose a general method to certify all kinds of multipartite entanglement in this asymmetric scenario and experimentally demonstrate it in an optical experiment. Our results, which can be seen as a definition of genuine multipartite quantum steering, give a method to detect entanglement in a scenario in between the standard entanglement and fully device-independent scenarios, and provide a basis for semi-device-independent cryptographic applications in quantum networks.

  8. Nonlinear absorption properties of AlGaAs/GaAs multiple quantum wells grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lee, Hsing-Chung; Kost, A.; Kawase, M.; Hariz, A.; Dapkus, P. Daniel

    1988-01-01

    The nonlinear absorption properties of the excitonic resonances associated with multiple quantum wells (MQWs) in AlGaAs/GaAs grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition are reported. The dependence of the saturation properties on growth parameters, especially growth temperature, and the well width are described. The minimum measured saturation intensity for these materials is 250 W/sq cm, the lowest reported value to date. The low saturation intensities are the result of excellent minority carrier properties. A systematic study of minority carrier lifetimes in quantum wells are reported. Lifetimes range from 50-350 ns depending on growth temperature and well width. When corrected for lateral diffusion effects and the measured minority carrier lifetime, the saturation data suggest that saturation intensities as low as 2.3 W/sq cm can be achieved in this system. The first measurements of the dependence of the exciton area and the magnitude of the excitonic absorption on well width are prsented. The growth of MQW structures on transparent GaP substrates is demonstrated and the electroabsorption properties of these structures are reviewed.

  9. Chemical properties and methods of analysis of refractory compounds

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Samsonov, G. V. (Editor); Frantsevich, I. N. (Editor); Yeremenko, V. N. (Editor); Nazarchuk, T. N. (Editor); Popova, O. I. (Editor)

    1978-01-01

    Reactions involving refractory metals and the alloys based on them are discussed. Chemical, electrochemical, photometric, spectrophotometric, and X-ray analysis are among the methods described for analyzing the results of the reactions and for determining the chemical properties of these materials.

  10. Use of external cavity quantum cascade laser compliance voltage in real-time trace gas sensing of multiple chemicals

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Phillips, Mark C.; Taubman, Matthew S.; Kriesel, Jason

    2015-01-01

    We describe a prototype trace gas sensor designed for real-time detection of multiple chemicals. The sensor uses an external cavity quantum cascade laser (ECQCL) swept over its tuning range of 940-1075 cm-1 (9.30-10.7 μm) at a 10 Hz repetition rate. The sensor was designed for operation in multiple modes, including gas sensing within a multi-pass Heriott cell and intracavity absorption sensing using the ECQCL compliance voltage. In addition, the ECQCL compliance voltage was used to reduce effects of long-term drifts in the ECQCL output power. The sensor was characterized for noise, drift, and detection of chemicals including ammonia, methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, Freon- 134a, Freon-152a, and diisopropyl methylphosphonate (DIMP). We also present use of the sensor for mobile detection of ammonia downwind of cattle facilities, in which concentrations were recorded at 1-s intervals.

  11. Quantum Chemistry, 5th Edition by Ira N. Levine

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hinde, Robert J.

    2000-12-01

    Of course, there is no one- or two-week shortcut by which nonspecialists can master enough quantum mechanics to become informed users of quantum chemical techniques. Nevertheless, a text that integrated the fundamentals of quantum theory with a rigorous introduction to quantum chemistry could help instructors design a class that would benefit both these nonspecialists and graduate students in physical chemistry. Could such a class overcome the (undeserved) stigma associated with the physical chemistry curriculum? That remains to be seen.

  12. A universal quantum information processor for scalable quantum communication and networks

    PubMed Central

    Yang, Xihua; Xue, Bolin; Zhang, Junxiang; Zhu, Shiyao

    2014-01-01

    Entanglement provides an essential resource for quantum computation, quantum communication, and quantum networks. How to conveniently and efficiently realize the generation, distribution, storage, retrieval, and control of multipartite entanglement is the basic requirement for realistic quantum information processing. Here, we present a theoretical proposal to efficiently and conveniently achieve a universal quantum information processor (QIP) via atomic coherence in an atomic ensemble. The atomic coherence, produced through electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in the Λ-type configuration, acts as the QIP and has full functions of quantum beam splitter, quantum frequency converter, quantum entangler, and quantum repeater. By employing EIT-based nondegenerate four-wave mixing processes, the generation, exchange, distribution, and manipulation of light-light, atom-light, and atom-atom multipartite entanglement can be efficiently and flexibly achieved in a deterministic way with only coherent light fields. This method greatly facilitates the operations in quantum information processing, and holds promising applications in realistic scalable quantum communication and quantum networks. PMID:25316514

  13. Energy barriers and rates of tautomeric transitions in DNA bases: ab initio quantum chemical study.

    PubMed

    Basu, Soumalee; Majumdar, Rabi; Das, Gourab K; Bhattacharyya, Dhananjay

    2005-12-01

    Tautomeric transitions of DNA bases are proton transfer reactions, which are important in biology. These reactions are involved in spontaneous point mutations of the genetic material. In the present study, intrinsic reaction coordinates (IRC) analyses through ab initio quantum chemical calculations have been carried out for the individual DNA bases A, T, G, C and also A:T and G:C base pairs to estimate the kinetic and thermodynamic barriers using MP2/6-31G** method for tautomeric transitions. Relatively higher values of kinetic barriers (about 50-60 kcal/mol) have been observed for the single bases, indicating that tautomeric alterations of isolated single bases are quite unlikely. On the other hand, relatively lower values of the kinetic barriers (about 20-25 kcal/mol) for the DNA base pairs A:T and G:C clearly suggest that the tautomeric shifts are much more favorable in DNA base pairs than in isolated single bases. The unusual base pairing A':C, T':G, C':A or G':T in the daughter DNA molecule, resulting from a parent DNA molecule with tautomeric shifts, is found to be stable enough to result in a mutation. The transition rate constants for the single DNA bases in addition to the base pairs are also calculated by computing the free energy differences between the transition states and the reactants.

  14. Quantum chemical approaches in structure-based virtual screening and lead optimization

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cavasotto, Claudio N.; Adler, Natalia S.; Aucar, Maria G.

    2018-05-01

    Today computational chemistry is a consolidated tool in drug lead discovery endeavors. Due to methodological developments and to the enormous advance in computer hardware, methods based on quantum mechanics (QM) have gained great attention in the last 10 years, and calculations on biomacromolecules are becoming increasingly explored, aiming to provide better accuracy in the description of protein-ligand interactions and the prediction of binding affinities. In principle, the QM formulation includes all contributions to the energy, accounting for terms usually missing in molecular mechanics force-fields, such as electronic polarization effects, metal coordination, and covalent binding; moreover, QM methods are systematically improvable, and provide a greater degree of transferability. In this mini-review we present recent applications of explicit QM-based methods in small-molecule docking and scoring, and in the calculation of binding free-energy in protein-ligand systems. Although the routine use of QM-based approaches in an industrial drug lead discovery setting remains a formidable challenging task, it is likely they will increasingly become active players within the drug discovery pipeline.

  15. A Quick and Parallel Analytical Method Based on Quantum Dots Labeling for ToRCH-Related Antibodies

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yang, Hao; Guo, Qing; He, Rong; Li, Ding; Zhang, Xueqing; Bao, Chenchen; Hu, Hengyao; Cui, Daxiang

    2009-12-01

    Quantum dot is a special kind of nanomaterial composed of periodic groups of II-VI, III-V or IV-VI materials. Their high quantum yield, broad absorption with narrow photoluminescence spectra and high resistance to photobleaching, make them become a promising labeling substance in biological analysis. Here, we report a quick and parallel analytical method based on quantum dots for ToRCH-related antibodies including Toxoplasma gondii, Rubella virus, Cytomegalovirus and Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV1) and 2 (HSV2). Firstly, we fabricated the microarrays with the five kinds of ToRCH-related antigens and used CdTe quantum dots to label secondary antibody and then analyzed 100 specimens of randomly selected clinical sera from obstetric outpatients. The currently prevalent enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits were considered as “golden standard” for comparison. The results show that the quantum dots labeling-based ToRCH microarrays have comparable sensitivity and specificity with ELISA. Besides, the microarrays hold distinct advantages over ELISA test format in detection time, cost, operation and signal stability. Validated by the clinical assay, our quantum dots-based ToRCH microarrays have great potential in the detection of ToRCH-related pathogens.

  16. Quantum dot coating of baculoviral vectors enables visualization of transduced cells and tissues

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Zhao, Ying; Lo, Seong Loong; Zheng, Yuangang

    2013-04-26

    Highlights: •The use of quantum dot (QD)-labeled viral vectors for in vivo imaging is not well investigated. •A new method to label enveloped baculovirus with glutathione-capped CdTe QDs is developed. •The labeling enables the identification of transduced, cultured cells based on fluorescence. •The labeling also allows evaluation of viral transduction in a real-time manner in living mice. •The method has the potential to assess viral vector-based gene therapy protocols in future. -- Abstract: Imaging of transduced cells and tissues is valuable in developing gene transfer vectors and evaluating gene therapy efficacy. We report here a simple method to use brightmore » and photostable quantum dots to label baculovirus, an emerging gene therapy vector. The labeling was achieved through the non-covalent interaction of glutathione-capped CdTe quantum dots with the virus envelope, without the use of chemical conjugation. The quantum dot labeling was nondestructive to viral transduction function and enabled the identification of baculoviral vector-transduced, living cells based on red fluorescence. When the labeled baculoviral vectors were injected intravenously or intraventricularly for in vivo delivery of a transgene into mice, quantum dot fluorescence signals allow us monitor whether or not the injected tissues were transduced. More importantly, using a dual-color whole-body imaging technology, we demonstrated that in vivo viral transduction could be evaluated in a real-time manner in living mice. Thus, our method of labeling a read-to-use gene delivery vector with quantum dots could be useful towards the improvement of vector design and will have the potential to assess baculovirus-based gene therapy protocols in future.« less

  17. Chemical reactor and method for chemically converting a first material into a second material

    DOEpatents

    Kong, Peter C.

    2008-04-08

    A chemical reactor and method for converting a first material into a second material is disclosed and wherein the chemical reactor is provided with a feed stream of a first material which is to be converted into a second material; and wherein the first material is combusted in the chemical reactor to produce a combustion flame, and a resulting gas; and an electrical arc is provided which is passed through or superimposed upon the combustion flame and the resulting gas to facilitate the production of the second material.

  18. Vortex filament method as a tool for computational visualization of quantum turbulence

    PubMed Central

    Hänninen, Risto; Baggaley, Andrew W.

    2014-01-01

    The vortex filament model has become a standard and powerful tool to visualize the motion of quantized vortices in helium superfluids. In this article, we present an overview of the method and highlight its impact in aiding our understanding of quantum turbulence, particularly superfluid helium. We present an analysis of the structure and arrangement of quantized vortices. Our results are in agreement with previous studies showing that under certain conditions, vortices form coherent bundles, which allows for classical vortex stretching, giving quantum turbulence a classical nature. We also offer an explanation for the differences between the observed properties of counterflow and pure superflow turbulence in a pipe. Finally, we suggest a mechanism for the generation of coherent structures in the presence of normal fluid shear. PMID:24704873

  19. In situ electron-beam polymerization stabilized quantum dot micelles.

    PubMed

    Travert-Branger, Nathalie; Dubois, Fabien; Renault, Jean-Philippe; Pin, Serge; Mahler, Benoit; Gravel, Edmond; Dubertret, Benoit; Doris, Eric

    2011-04-19

    A polymerizable amphiphile polymer containing PEG was synthesized and used to encapsulate quantum dots in micelles. The quantum dot micelles were then polymerized using a "clean" electron beam process that did not require any post-irradiation purification. Fluorescence spectroscopy revealed that the polymerized micelles provided an organic coating that preserved the quantum dot fluorescence better than nonpolymerized micelles, even under harsh conditions. © 2011 American Chemical Society

  20. Methods for Quantum Circuit Design and Simulation

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2010-03-01

    cannot be deter- mined given the one output. Reversible gates, expressed mathematically, are unitary matrices. 16 3.3.1 PAULI Gates/Matrices Three...common single-qubit gates are expressed mathematically as Pauli matrices, which are 2x2 matrices. A 2x2 quantum gate can be applied to a single quantum...bit (a 2x1 column vector). The Pauli matrices are expressed as follows: X =   0 1 1 0   Y =   0 −i i 0   Z =   1 0 0 −1   (3.10) where i

  1. Predictive performance of the Vitrigel‐eye irritancy test method using 118 chemicals

    PubMed Central

    Yamaguchi, Hiroyuki; Kojima, Hajime

    2015-01-01

    Abstract We recently developed a novel Vitrigel‐eye irritancy test (EIT) method. The Vitrigel‐EIT method is composed of two parts, i.e., the construction of a human corneal epithelium (HCE) model in a collagen vitrigel membrane chamber and the prediction of eye irritancy by analyzing the time‐dependent profile of transepithelial electrical resistance values for 3 min after exposing a chemical to the HCE model. In this study, we estimated the predictive performance of Vitrigel‐EIT method by testing a total of 118 chemicals. The category determined by the Vitrigel‐EIT method in comparison to the globally harmonized system classification revealed that the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were 90.1%, 65.9% and 80.5%, respectively. Here, five of seven false‐negative chemicals were acidic chemicals inducing the irregular rising of transepithelial electrical resistance values. In case of eliminating the test chemical solutions showing pH 5 or lower, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were improved to 96.8%, 67.4% and 84.4%, respectively. Meanwhile, nine of 16 false‐positive chemicals were classified irritant by the US Environmental Protection Agency. In addition, the disappearance of ZO‐1, a tight junction‐associated protein and MUC1, a cell membrane‐spanning mucin was immunohistologically confirmed in the HCE models after exposing not only eye irritant chemicals but also false‐positive chemicals, suggesting that such false‐positive chemicals have an eye irritant potential. These data demonstrated that the Vitrigel‐EIT method could provide excellent predictive performance to judge the widespread eye irritancy, including very mild irritant chemicals. We hope that the Vitrigel‐EIT method contributes to the development of safe commodity chemicals. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Journal of Applied Toxicology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. PMID:26472347

  2. Predictive performance of the Vitrigel-eye irritancy test method using 118 chemicals.

    PubMed

    Yamaguchi, Hiroyuki; Kojima, Hajime; Takezawa, Toshiaki

    2016-08-01

    We recently developed a novel Vitrigel-eye irritancy test (EIT) method. The Vitrigel-EIT method is composed of two parts, i.e., the construction of a human corneal epithelium (HCE) model in a collagen vitrigel membrane chamber and the prediction of eye irritancy by analyzing the time-dependent profile of transepithelial electrical resistance values for 3 min after exposing a chemical to the HCE model. In this study, we estimated the predictive performance of Vitrigel-EIT method by testing a total of 118 chemicals. The category determined by the Vitrigel-EIT method in comparison to the globally harmonized system classification revealed that the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were 90.1%, 65.9% and 80.5%, respectively. Here, five of seven false-negative chemicals were acidic chemicals inducing the irregular rising of transepithelial electrical resistance values. In case of eliminating the test chemical solutions showing pH 5 or lower, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were improved to 96.8%, 67.4% and 84.4%, respectively. Meanwhile, nine of 16 false-positive chemicals were classified irritant by the US Environmental Protection Agency. In addition, the disappearance of ZO-1, a tight junction-associated protein and MUC1, a cell membrane-spanning mucin was immunohistologically confirmed in the HCE models after exposing not only eye irritant chemicals but also false-positive chemicals, suggesting that such false-positive chemicals have an eye irritant potential. These data demonstrated that the Vitrigel-EIT method could provide excellent predictive performance to judge the widespread eye irritancy, including very mild irritant chemicals. We hope that the Vitrigel-EIT method contributes to the development of safe commodity chemicals. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Journal of Applied Toxicology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Journal of Applied Toxicology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  3. Safety in the Chemical Laboratory--Chemical Management: A Method for Waste Reduction.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pine, Stanley H.

    1984-01-01

    Discusses methods for reducing or eliminating waste disposal problems in the chemistry laboratory, considering both economic and environmental aspects of the problems. Proposes inventory control, shared use, solvent recycling, zero effluent, and various means of disposing of chemicals. (JM)

  4. Old Wine in New Bottles: Quantum Theory in Historical Perspective.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bent, Henry A.

    1984-01-01

    Discusses similarities between chemistry and three central concepts of quantum physics: (1) stationary states; (2) wave functions; and (3) complementarity. Based on these and other similarities, it is indicated that quantum physics is a chemical physics. (JN)

  5. Nonlinear absorption in AlGaAs/GaAs multiple quantum well structures grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lee, H. C.; Hariz, A.; Dapkus, P. D.; Kost, A.; Kawase, M.

    1987-01-01

    This paper reports the study of growth conditions for achieving the sharp exciton resonances and low-intensity saturation of these resonances in AlGaAs-GaAs multiple quantum well structures grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. Low growth temperature is necessary to observe this sharp resonance feature at room temperature. The optimal growth conditions are a tradeoff between the high temperatures required for high quality AlGaAs and low temperatures required for high-purity GaAs. A strong optical saturation of the excitonic absorption has been observed. A saturation density as low as 250 W/sq cm is reported.

  6. Parameters for the RM1 Quantum Chemical Calculation of Complexes of the Trications of Thulium, Ytterbium and Lutetium

    PubMed Central

    Filho, Manoel A. M.; Dutra, José Diogo L.; Rocha, Gerd B.; Simas, Alfredo M.

    2016-01-01

    The RM1 quantum chemical model for the calculation of complexes of Tm(III), Yb(III) and Lu(III) is advanced. Subsequently, we tested the models by fully optimizing the geometries of 126 complexes. We then compared the optimized structures with known crystallographic ones from the Cambridge Structural Database. Results indicate that, for thulium complexes, the accuracy in terms of the distances between the lanthanide ion and its directly coordinated atoms is about 2%. Corresponding results for ytterbium and lutetium are both 3%, levels of accuracy useful for the design of lanthanide complexes, targeting their countless applications. PMID:27223475

  7. Zinc sulfide quantum dots for photocatalytic and sensing applications

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sergeev, Alexander A.; Leonov, Andrei A.; Zhuikova, Elena I.; Postnova, Irina V.; Voznesenskiy, Sergey S.

    2017-09-01

    Herein, we report the photocatalytic and sensing applications of pure and Mn-doped ZnS quantum dots. The quantum dots were prepared by a chemical precipitation in an aqueous solution in the presence of glutathione as a stabilizing agent. The synthesized quantum dots were used as effective photocatalyst for the degradation of methylene blue dye. Interestingly, fully degradation of methylene blue dye was achieved in 5 min using pure ZnS quantum dots. Further, the synthesized quantum dots were used as efficient sensing element for methane fluorescent sensor. Interfering studies confirmed that the developed sensor possesses very good sensitivity and selectivity towards methane.

  8. Thermodynamic properties for applications in chemical industry via classical force fields.

    PubMed

    Guevara-Carrion, Gabriela; Hasse, Hans; Vrabec, Jadran

    2012-01-01

    Thermodynamic properties of fluids are of key importance for the chemical industry. Presently, the fluid property models used in process design and optimization are mostly equations of state or G (E) models, which are parameterized using experimental data. Molecular modeling and simulation based on classical force fields is a promising alternative route, which in many cases reasonably complements the well established methods. This chapter gives an introduction to the state-of-the-art in this field regarding molecular models, simulation methods, and tools. Attention is given to the way modeling and simulation on the scale of molecular force fields interact with other scales, which is mainly by parameter inheritance. Parameters for molecular force fields are determined both bottom-up from quantum chemistry and top-down from experimental data. Commonly used functional forms for describing the intra- and intermolecular interactions are presented. Several approaches for ab initio to empirical force field parameterization are discussed. Some transferable force field families, which are frequently used in chemical engineering applications, are described. Furthermore, some examples of force fields that were parameterized for specific molecules are given. Molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo methods for the calculation of transport properties and vapor-liquid equilibria are introduced. Two case studies are presented. First, using liquid ammonia as an example, the capabilities of semi-empirical force fields, parameterized on the basis of quantum chemical information and experimental data, are discussed with respect to thermodynamic properties that are relevant for the chemical industry. Second, the ability of molecular simulation methods to describe accurately vapor-liquid equilibrium properties of binary mixtures containing CO(2) is shown.

  9. Direct method for measuring and witnessing quantum entanglement of arbitrary two-qubit states through Hong-Ou-Mandel interference

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bartkiewicz, Karol; Chimczak, Grzegorz; Lemr, Karel

    2017-02-01

    We describe a direct method for experimental determination of the negativity of an arbitrary two-qubit state with 11 measurements performed on multiple copies of the two-qubit system. Our method is based on the experimentally accessible sequences of singlet projections performed on up to four qubit pairs. In particular, our method permits the application of the Peres-Horodecki separability criterion to an arbitrary two-qubit state. We explicitly demonstrate that measuring entanglement in terms of negativity requires three measurements more than detecting two-qubit entanglement. The reported minimal set of interferometric measurements provides a complete description of bipartite quantum entanglement in terms of two-photon interference. This set is smaller than the set of 15 measurements needed to perform a complete quantum state tomography of an arbitrary two-qubit system. Finally, we demonstrate that the set of nine Makhlin's invariants needed to express the negativity can be measured by performing 13 multicopy projections. We demonstrate both that these invariants are a useful theoretical concept for designing specialized quantum interferometers and that their direct measurement within the framework of linear optics does not require performing complete quantum state tomography.

  10. Path Integrals for Electronic Densities, Reactivity Indices, and Localization Functions in Quantum Systems

    PubMed Central

    Putz, Mihai V.

    2009-01-01

    The density matrix theory, the ancestor of density functional theory, provides the immediate framework for Path Integral (PI) development, allowing the canonical density be extended for the many-electronic systems through the density functional closure relationship. Yet, the use of path integral formalism for electronic density prescription presents several advantages: assures the inner quantum mechanical description of the system by parameterized paths; averages the quantum fluctuations; behaves as the propagator for time-space evolution of quantum information; resembles Schrödinger equation; allows quantum statistical description of the system through partition function computing. In this framework, four levels of path integral formalism were presented: the Feynman quantum mechanical, the semiclassical, the Feynman-Kleinert effective classical, and the Fokker-Planck non-equilibrium ones. In each case the density matrix or/and the canonical density were rigorously defined and presented. The practical specializations for quantum free and harmonic motions, for statistical high and low temperature limits, the smearing justification for the Bohr’s quantum stability postulate with the paradigmatic Hydrogen atomic excursion, along the quantum chemical calculation of semiclassical electronegativity and hardness, of chemical action and Mulliken electronegativity, as well as by the Markovian generalizations of Becke-Edgecombe electronic focalization functions – all advocate for the reliability of assuming PI formalism of quantum mechanics as a versatile one, suited for analytically and/or computationally modeling of a variety of fundamental physical and chemical reactivity concepts characterizing the (density driving) many-electronic systems. PMID:20087467

  11. Path integrals for electronic densities, reactivity indices, and localization functions in quantum systems.

    PubMed

    Putz, Mihai V

    2009-11-10

    The density matrix theory, the ancestor of density functional theory, provides the immediate framework for Path Integral (PI) development, allowing the canonical density be extended for the many-electronic systems through the density functional closure relationship. Yet, the use of path integral formalism for electronic density prescription presents several advantages: assures the inner quantum mechanical description of the system by parameterized paths; averages the quantum fluctuations; behaves as the propagator for time-space evolution of quantum information; resembles Schrödinger equation; allows quantum statistical description of the system through partition function computing. In this framework, four levels of path integral formalism were presented: the Feynman quantum mechanical, the semiclassical, the Feynman-Kleinert effective classical, and the Fokker-Planck non-equilibrium ones. In each case the density matrix or/and the canonical density were rigorously defined and presented. The practical specializations for quantum free and harmonic motions, for statistical high and low temperature limits, the smearing justification for the Bohr's quantum stability postulate with the paradigmatic Hydrogen atomic excursion, along the quantum chemical calculation of semiclassical electronegativity and hardness, of chemical action and Mulliken electronegativity, as well as by the Markovian generalizations of Becke-Edgecombe electronic focalization functions - all advocate for the reliability of assuming PI formalism of quantum mechanics as a versatile one, suited for analytically and/or computationally modeling of a variety of fundamental physical and chemical reactivity concepts characterizing the (density driving) many-electronic systems.

  12. Prospect of quantum anomalous Hall and quantum spin Hall effect in doped kagome lattice Mott insulators.

    PubMed

    Guterding, Daniel; Jeschke, Harald O; Valentí, Roser

    2016-05-17

    Electronic states with non-trivial topology host a number of novel phenomena with potential for revolutionizing information technology. The quantum anomalous Hall effect provides spin-polarized dissipation-free transport of electrons, while the quantum spin Hall effect in combination with superconductivity has been proposed as the basis for realizing decoherence-free quantum computing. We introduce a new strategy for realizing these effects, namely by hole and electron doping kagome lattice Mott insulators through, for instance, chemical substitution. As an example, we apply this new approach to the natural mineral herbertsmithite. We prove the feasibility of the proposed modifications by performing ab-initio density functional theory calculations and demonstrate the occurrence of the predicted effects using realistic models. Our results herald a new family of quantum anomalous Hall and quantum spin Hall insulators at affordable energy/temperature scales based on kagome lattices of transition metal ions.

  13. Comperative investigations of non chemical weed management methods in Hungary.

    PubMed

    Pali, Orsolya; Reisinger, Peter; Pomsar, Peter

    2007-01-01

    Organic farming has an increasing tendency in Hungary because of growing consumers' demands according to organic products not only in inland but also in the countries of the European Union. Developments of weed control methods in organically cropped field plants have become conspicuous next to developing chemical weed management methods of convencionally cropped cultural plants. The aim of our investigations was to make comperative investigations of non chemical weed control methods in wide rowed plants.

  14. Tsallis entropy and decoherence of CsI quantum pseudo dot qubit

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tiotsop, M.; Fotue, A. J.; Fotsin, H. B.; Fai, L. C.

    2017-05-01

    Polaron in CsI quantum pseudo dot under an electromagnetic field was considered, and the ground and first excited state energies were derived by employing the combining Pekar variational and unitary transformation methods. With the two-level system obtained, single qubit was envisioned and the decoherence was studied using non-extensive entropy (Tsallis entropy). Numerical results showed: (i) the increase (decrease) of the energy levels (period of oscillation) with the increase of chemical potential, the zero point of pseudo dot, cyclotron frequency, and transverse and longitudinal confinements; (ii) the Tsallis entropy evolved as a wave envelop that increase with the increase of non-extenxive parameter and with the increase of electric field strength, zero point of pseudo dot and cyclotron frequency the wave envelop evolve periodically with reduction of period; (iii) The transition probability increases from the boundary to the centre of the dot where it has its maximum value. It was also noted that the probability density oscillate with period T0 = ℏ / Δ Ε with the tunnelling of the chemical potential and zero point of the pseudo dot. These results are helpful in the control of decoherence in quantum systems and may also be useful for the design of quantum computers.

  15. Remote explosive and chemical agent detection using broadly tunable mid-infrared external cavity quantum cascade lasers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rayner, Timothy; Weida, Miles; Pushkarsky, Michael; Day, Timothy

    2007-04-01

    Terrorists both with IEDs and suicide bombers are targeting civilian infrastructures such as transportation systems. Although explosive detection technologies exist and are used effectively in aviation, these technologies do not lend themselves well to protecting open architecture soft targets, as they are focused on a checkpoint form factor that limits throughput. However, remote detection of explosives and other chemicals would enable these kinds of targets to be protected without interrupting the flow of commerce. Tunable mid-IR laser technology offers the opportunity to detect explosives and other chemicals remotely and quickly. Most chemical compounds, including explosives, have their fundamental vibrational modes in the mid-infrared region (3 to 15μm). There are a variety of techniques that focus on examining interactions that have proven effective in the laboratory but could never work in the field due to complexity, size, reliability and cost. Daylight Solutions has solved these problems by integrating quantum cascade gain media into external tunable cavities. This has resulted in miniaturized, broadly tunable mid-IR laser sources. The laser sources have a capability to tune to +/- 5% of their center wavelength, which means they can sweep through an entire absorption spectrum to ensure very good detection and false alarm performance compared with fixed wavelength devices. These devices are also highly portable, operate at room temperature, and generate 10's to 100's of mW in optical power, in pulsed and continuous wave configurations. Daylight Solutions is in the process of developing a variety of standoff explosive and chemical weapon detection systems using this technology.

  16. Quantum Dots for Molecular Diagnostics of Tumors

    PubMed Central

    Zdobnova, T.A.; Lebedenko, E.N.; Deyev, S.М.

    2011-01-01

    Semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) are a new class of fluorophores with unique physical and chemical properties, which allow to appreciably expand the possibilities for the current methods of fluorescent imaging and optical diagnostics. Here we discuss the prospects of QD application for molecular diagnostics of tumors ranging from cancer-specific marker detection on microplates to non-invasive tumor imagingin vivo. We also point out the essential problems that require resolution in order to clinically promote QD, and we indicate innovative approaches to oncology which are implementable using QD. PMID:22649672

  17. Quantum confined Stark effects of single dopant in polarized hemispherical quantum dot: Two-dimensional finite difference approach and Ritz-Hassé variation method

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    El Harouny, El Hassan; Nakra Mohajer, Soukaina; Ibral, Asmaa; El Khamkhami, Jamal; Assaid, El Mahdi

    2018-05-01

    Eigenvalues equation of hydrogen-like off-center single donor impurity confined in polarized homogeneous hemispherical quantum dot deposited on a wetting layer, capped by insulated matrix and submitted to external uniform electric field is solved in the framework of the effective mass approximation. An infinitely deep potential is used to describe effects of quantum confinement due to conduction band offsets at surfaces where quantum dot and surrounding materials meet. Single donor ground state total and binding energies in presence of electric field are determined via two-dimensional finite difference approach and Ritz-Hassé variation principle. For the latter method, attractive coulomb correlation between electron and ionized single donor is taken into account in the expression of trial wave function. It appears that off-center single dopant binding energy, spatial extension and radial probability density are strongly dependent on hemisphere radius and single dopant position inside quantum dot. Influence of a uniform electric field is also investigated. It shows that Stark effect appears even for very small size dots and that single dopant energy shift is more significant when the single donor is near hemispherical surface.

  18. Doubly Selective Multiple Quantum Chemical Shift Imaging and T1 Relaxation Time Measurement of Glutathione (GSH) in the Human Brain In Vivo

    PubMed Central

    Choi, In-Young; Lee, Phil

    2012-01-01

    Mapping of a major antioxidant, glutathione (GSH), was achieved in the human brain in vivo using a doubly selective multiple quantum filtering based chemical shift imaging (CSI) of GSH at 3 T. Both in vivo and phantom tests in CSI and single voxel measurements were consistent with excellent suppression of overlapping signals from creatine, γ-Amino butyric acid (GABA) and macromolecules. The GSH concentration in the fronto-parietal region was 1.20 ± 0.16 µmol/g (mean ± SD, n = 7). The longitudinal relaxation time (T1) of GSH in the human brain was 397 ± 44 ms (mean ± SD, n = 5), which was substantially shorter than those of other metabolites. This GSH CSI method permits us to address regional differences of GSH in the human brain with conditions where oxidative stress has been implicated, including multiple sclerosis, aging and neurodegenerative diseases. PMID:22730142

  19. Quantum chemical study of the structure, spectroscopy and reactivity of NO+.(H2O)n=1-5 clusters

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Linton, Kirsty A.; Wright, Timothy G.; Besley, Nicholas A.

    2018-03-01

    Quantum chemical methods including Møller-Plesset perturbation (MP2) theory and density functional theory (DFT) have been used to study the structure, spectroscopy and reactivity of NO+.(H2O)n=1-5 clusters. MP2/6-311++G** calculations are shown to describe the structure and spectroscopy of the clusters well. DFT calculations with exchange-correlation functionals with a low fraction of Hartree-Fock exchange give a binding energy of NO+.(H2O) that is too high and incorrectly predict the lowest energy structure of NO+.(H2O)2, and this error may be associated with a delocalization of charge onto the water molecule directly binding to NO+. Ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations were performed to study the NO+.(H2O)5 H+.(H2O)4 + HONO reaction to investigate the formation of HONO from NO+.(H2O)5. Whether an intracluster reaction to form HONO is observed depends on the level of electronic structure theory used. Of note is that methods that accurately describe the relative energies of the product and reactant clusters did not show reactions on the timescales studied. This suggests that in the upper atmosphere the reaction may occur owing to the energy present in the NO+.(H2O)5 complex following its formation. This article is part of the theme issue `Modern theoretical chemistry'.

  20. High-dimensional quantum cloning and applications to quantum hacking

    PubMed Central

    Bouchard, Frédéric; Fickler, Robert; Boyd, Robert W.; Karimi, Ebrahim

    2017-01-01

    Attempts at cloning a quantum system result in the introduction of imperfections in the state of the copies. This is a consequence of the no-cloning theorem, which is a fundamental law of quantum physics and the backbone of security for quantum communications. Although perfect copies are prohibited, a quantum state may be copied with maximal accuracy via various optimal cloning schemes. Optimal quantum cloning, which lies at the border of the physical limit imposed by the no-signaling theorem and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, has been experimentally realized for low-dimensional photonic states. However, an increase in the dimensionality of quantum systems is greatly beneficial to quantum computation and communication protocols. Nonetheless, no experimental demonstration of optimal cloning machines has hitherto been shown for high-dimensional quantum systems. We perform optimal cloning of high-dimensional photonic states by means of the symmetrization method. We show the universality of our technique by conducting cloning of numerous arbitrary input states and fully characterize our cloning machine by performing quantum state tomography on cloned photons. In addition, a cloning attack on a Bennett and Brassard (BB84) quantum key distribution protocol is experimentally demonstrated to reveal the robustness of high-dimensional states in quantum cryptography. PMID:28168219