K. S. Vasu

Femtosecond carrier dynamics and saturable absorption in graphene suspensions

Nonlinear optical properties and carrier relaxation dynamics in graphene, suspended in three different solvents, are investigated using femtosecond (80 fs pulses) Z-scan and degenerate pump-probe spectroscopy at 790 nm. The results demonstrate saturable absorption property of graphene with a nonlinear absorption coefficient, beta of (similar to 2-9) x 10(-8) cm/W. Two distinct time scales associated with the relaxation of photoexcited carriers, a fast one in the range of 130-330 fs (related to carrier-carrier scattering) followed by it slower one in 3.5-4.9 ps range (associated with carrier-phonon scattering) are observed

Sensitive detection of C-reactive protein using optical fiber Bragg gratings.

An accurate and highly sensitive sensor platform has been demonstrated for the detection of C-reactive protein (CRP) using optical fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs). The CRP detection has been carried out by monitoring the shift in Bragg wavelength (ΔλB) of an etched FBG (eFBG) coated with an anti-CRP antibody (aCRP)-graphene oxide (GO) complex. The complex is characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy. A limit of detection of 0.01mg/L has been achieved with a linear range of detection from 0.01mg/L to 100mg/L which includes clinical range of CRP. The eFBG sensor coated with only aCRP (without GO) show much less sensitivity than that of aCRP-GO complex coated eFBG. The eFBG sensors show high specificity to CRP even in the presence of other interfering factors such as urea, creatinine and glucose. The affinity constant of ∼1.1×10(10)M(-1) has been extracted from the data of normalized shift (ΔλB/λB) as a function of CRP concentration.

Atomic Layer Deposition of p-Type Epitaxial Thin Films of Undoped and N-Doped Anatase TiO2

Employing atomic layer deposition, we have grown p-type epitaxial undoped and N-doped anatase TiO2(001) thin films on c-axis Al2O3 substrate. From X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy studies, crystallographic relationships between the film and the substrate are found to be (001)TiO2//(0001)Al2O3 and [1̅10]TiO2//[011̅0]Al2O3. N-doping in TiO2 thin films enhances the hole concentration and mobility. The optical band gap of anatase TiO2 (3.23 eV) decreases to 3.07 eV upon N-doping. The epitaxial films exhibit room-temperature ferromagnetism and photoresponse. A TiO2-based homojunction diode was fabricated with rectification from the p-n junction formed between N-doped p-TiO2 and n-TiO2.

Detection of sugar-lectin interactions by multivalent dendritic sugar functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes

We show that single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) decorated with sugar functionalized poly (propyl ether imine) (PETIM) dendrimer is a very sensitive platform to quantitatively detect carbohydrate recognizing proteins, namely, lectins. The changes in electrical conductivity of SWNT in field effect transistor device due to carbohydrate–protein interactions form the basis of present study. The mannose sugar attached PETIM dendrimers undergo charge–transfer interactions with the SWNTs. The changes in the conductance of the dendritic sugar functionalized SWNT after addition of lectins in varying concentrations were found to follow the Langmuir type isotherm, giving the concanavalin A (Con A)-mannose affinity constant to be 8.5 × 106 M−1. The increase in the device conductance observed after adding 10 nM of Con A is same as after adding 20 μM of a non-specific lectin peanut agglutinin, showing the high specificity of the Con A–mannose interactions. The specificity of sugar-lectin interactions was characteriz...

Enhanced strain and temperature sensing by reduced graphene oxide coated etched fiber Bragg gratings

This Letter reports on an etched fiber Bragg grating (eFBG) sensor coated with reduced graphene oxide (RGO) having enhanced sensitivity for physical parameters such as strain and temperature. The synergetic effect of the changes in grating pitch and refractive index of RGO with change in temperature or strain enhances the shift in Bragg wavelength (λB). The RGO-coated eFBG sensors exhibit a strain sensitivity of 5.5 pm/μϵ (∼5 times that of bare fiber Bragg gratings) and temperature sensitivity of 33 pm/°C (∼3 times that of bare fiber Bragg gratings). The resolutions of ∼1  μϵ and ∼0.3°C have been obtained for strain and temperature respectively, using RGO-coated eFBG sensors.

Optical detection of glucose and glycated hemoglobin using etched fiber Bragg gratings coated with functionalized reduced graphene oxide.

An enhanced optical detection of D-glucose and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c ) has been established in this study using etched fiber Bragg gratings (eFBG) coated with aminophenylboronic acid (APBA)-functionalized reduced graphene oxide (RGO). The read out, namely the shift in Bragg wavelength (ΔλB ) is highly sensitive to changes that occur due to the adsorption of glucose (or HbA1c ) molecules on the eFBG sensor coated with APBA-RGO complex through a five-membered cyclic ester bond formation between glucose and APBA molecules. A limit of detection of 1 nM is achieved with a linear range of detection from 1 nM to 10 mM in the case of D-glucose detection experiments. For HbA1c , a linear range of detection varying from 86 nM to 0.23 mM is achieved. The observation of only 4 pm (picometer) change in ΔλB even for the 10 mM lactose solution confirms the specificity of the APBA-RGO complex coated eFBG sensors to glucose molecules.

FEMTOSECOND PHOTOEXCITED CARRIER DYNAMICS IN REDUCED GRAPHENE OXIDE SUSPENSIONS AND FILMS

We report ultrafast response of femtosecond photoexcited carriers in single layer reduced graphene oxide flakes suspended in water as well as few layer thick film deposited on indium tin oxide coated glass plate using pump–probe differential transmission spectroscopy at 790 nm. The carrier relaxation dynamics has three components: ~200 fs, 1 to 2 ps, and ~25 ps, all of them independent of pump fluence. It is seen that the second component (1 to 2 ps) assigned to the lifetime of hot optical phonons is larger for graphene in suspensions whereas other two time constants are the same for both the suspension and the film. The value of third order nonlinear susceptibility estimated from the pump–probe experiments is compared with that obtained from the open aperture23 Z-scan results for the suspension.