Yoshito Ando

Elastic Pectoral Fin Actuators for Biomimetic Underwater Vehicles

This paper describes the development of two new types of pectoral fins made of elastic materials. The fins were designed to have flexibility and multifunctionality for use not only as propulsive devices in biomimetic underwater vehicles but in other applications such as grippers, thus avoiding the environmental damage often caused by rigid fins. We developed an actively controlled pneumatic fin and a passively controlled flexible fin.

Solvent dependence of ultrafast ground state recovery of the triphenylmethane dyes, brilliant green and malachite green

Abstract We have studied femtosecond ground state recovery dynamics of the triphenylmethane dyes brilliant green (BG) and malachite green (MG) by pump–probe spectroscopy at the center wavelength of 635 nm with a time resolution of 33 fs. The ultrafast recovery of the ground state bleach was highly nonexponential and depended on the solvent viscosity, although all time constants were shorter than the solvation times obtained from other measurements. We observed a plateau or a rise component in the signal, which indicates an intermediate state. The rise time showed a viscosity dependence, even in the ultrafast time domain. It should be noted that the decay times were always longer for BG than MG, while the rise time did not show a solute dependence. The torsional motion of the amino-substituted phenyl group may be involved in the ultrafast process to the intermediate state, but lack of a solute dependence indicates that only a small conformational change is involved.

Solvent Dependence of the Ultrafast Ground State Recovery Dynamics of Phenol Blue

Abstract We have studied femtosecond ground state recovery dynamics of phenol blue (PB) by pump-probe spectroscopy with a time resolution of 33 fs. Multiexponential decay with time constants extending from 300 fs to 10 ps were observed. Some low frequency intramolecular quantum beats were also observed. Solvent dependence of these decays and beats are discussed.