Claus B. Sørensen

Bias and temperature dependence of the 0.7 conductance anomaly in quantum point contacts

The 0.7 (2e^2/h) conductance anomaly is studied in strongly confined, etched GaAs/GaAlAs quantum point contacts, by measuring the differential conductance as a function of source-drain and gate bias as well as a function of temperature. We investigate in detail how, for a given gate voltage, the differential conductance depends on the finite bias voltage and find a so-called self-gating effect, which we correct for. The 0.7 anomaly at zero bias is found to evolve smoothly into a conductance plateau at 0.85 (2e^2/h) at finite bias. Varying the gate voltage the transition between the 1.0 and the 0.85 (2e^2/h) plateaus occurs for definite bias voltages, which defines a gate voltage dependent energy difference

Characterization of potassium channel modulators with QPatch automated patch-clamp technology: system characteristics and performance.

\Delta

Intact Mammalian Cell Function on Semiconductor Nanowire Arrays: New Perspectives for Cell‐Based Biosensing

. This energy difference is compared with the activation temperature T_a extracted from the experimentally observed activated behavior of the 0.7 anomaly at low bias. We find \Delta = k_B T_a which lends support to the idea that the conductance anomaly is due to transmission through two conduction channels, of which the one with its subband edge \Delta below the chemical potential becomes thermally depopulated as the temperature is increased.

Junctions in Axial III-V Heterostructure Nanowires Obtained via an Interchange of Group III Elements

Planar silicon chips with 1-2-microm etched holes (average resistance: 2.04 +/- 0.02 MOmega in physiological buffer, n = 274) have been developed for patch-clamp recordings of whole-cell currents from cells in suspension. An automated 16-channel parallel screening system, QPatch 16, has been developed using this technology. A single-channel prototype of the QPatch system was used for validation of the patch-clamp chip technology. We present here data on the quality of patch-clamp recordings and from actual drug screening studies of human potassium channels expressed in cultured cell lines. Using Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) and human embryonic kidney cells (HEK), gigaseals of 4.1 +/- 0.4 GOmega (n = 146) and high-quality whole-cell current recordings were obtained from hERG and KCNQ4 potassium channels. Success rates for gigaseal recordings varied from 40 to 95%, and 67% of the whole-cell configurations lasted for >20 min. Cells were maintained in suspension up to 4 h in a cell storage facility that is integrated in the QPatch 16. No decline in patchability was observed during this time course. A series of screens was conducted with known inhibitors of the hERG and KCNQ4 potassium channels. Dose-response relationship characterizations of verapamil and rBeKm-1 blockage of hERG currents provided IC(50) values similar to values reported in the literature.

Advances in the theory of III–V nanowire growth dynamics

Nanowires (NWs) are attracting more and more interest due to their potential cellular applications, such as delivery of compounds or sensing platforms. Arrays of vertical indium-arsenide (InAs) NWs are interfaced with human embryonic kidney cells and rat embryonic dorsal root ganglion neurons. A selection of critical cell functions and pathways are shown not to be impaired, including cell adhesion, membrane integrity, intracellular enzyme activity, DNA uptake, cytosolic and membrane protein expression, and the neuronal maturation pathway. The results demonstrate the low invasiveness of InAs NW arrays, which, combined with the unique physical properties of InAs, open up their potential for cellular investigations.

Upscaling and automation of electrophysiology: toward high throughput screening in ion channel drug discovery.

We present an investigation of the morphology and composition of novel types of axial nanowire heterostructures where Ga(x)In(1-x)As is used as barrier material in InAs nanowires. Using aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray analysis we demonstrate that it is possible to grow junctions by changing the group III elements, and we find that a substantial fraction of Ga can be incorporated in axial InAs/Ga(x)In(1-x)As/InAs, retaining straight nanowire configurations. We explain how the adatoms are transferred to the incorporation site at the growth interface via two different routes, (1) interface diffusion and (2) volume diffusion through the catalyst particle.

Mesoscopic decoherence in Aharonov-Bohm rings

Nanowire (NW) crystal growth via the vapour–liquid–solid mechanism is a complex dynamic process involving interactions between many atoms of various thermodynamic states. With increasing speed over the last few decades many works have reported on various aspects of the growth mechanisms, both experimentally and theoretically. We will here propose a general continuum formalism for growth kinetics based on thermodynamic parameters and transition state kinetics. We use the formalism together with key elements of recent research to present a more overall treatment of III–V NW growth, which can serve as a basis to model and understand the dynamical mechanisms in terms of the basic control parameters, temperature and pressures/beam fluxes. Self-catalysed GaAs NW growth on Si substrates by molecular beam epitaxy is used as a model system.

Doping incorporation paths in catalyst-free Be-doped GaAs nanowires

Effective screening of large compound libraries in ion channel drug discovery requires the development of new electrophysiological techniques with substantially increased throughputs compared to the conventional patch clamp technique. Sophion Bioscience is aiming to meet this challenge by developing two lines of automated patch clamp products, a traditional pipette-based system called Apatchi-1, and a silicon chip-based system QPatch. The degree of automation spans from semi-automation (Apatchi-1) where a trained technician interacts with the system in a limited way, to a complete automation (QPatch 96) where the system works continuously and unattended until screening of a full compound library is completed. The performance of the systems range from medium to high throughputs.

OBSERVATION OF QUANTUM ASYMMETRY IN AN AHARONOV-BOHM RING

We study electron decoherence by measuring the temperature dependence of Aharonov-Bohm (AB) oscillations in quasi-one-dimensional rings, etched in a high-mobility

Facet structure of GaAs nanowires grown by molecular beam epitaxy

\mathrm{GaAs}/{\mathrm{Ga}}_{x}{\mathrm{Al}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}\mathrm{As}