Comparison of different cutaneous carotenoid sensors and influence of age, skin type, and kinetic changes subsequent to intake of a vegetable extract.

In the last decade, cutaneous carotenoid measurements have become increasingly popular, as carotenoids were found to be a biomarker of nutrition rich in fruits and vegetables, permitting monitoring of the influence of various stress factors. For such measurements, in addition to the specific and selective resonance Raman spectroscopy (RRS), newly developed low expensive small and mobile sensors that are based on spatially resolved reflectance spectroscopy (SRRS) are used for cutaneous carotenoid measurements. Human volunteers of different age exhibiting skin types I to III were investigated using RRS and two SRRS-based sensors to determine the influence of these parameters on the measuring results.

Ultrafast energy redistribution in C(60) fullerenes: a real time study by two-color femtosecond spectroscopy.

Strong-field excitation and energy redistribution dynamics of C(60) fullerenes are studied by means of time-resolved mass spectrometry in a two-color femtosecond pump-probe setup. Resonant pre-excitation of the electronic system via the first dipole-allowed HOMO-->LUMO+1(t(1g)) (HOMO denotes highest occupied molecular orbital and LUMO denotes lowest unoccupied molecular orbital) transition with ultrashort 25 fs pulses at 399 nm of some 10(12) W cm(-2) results in a highly nonequilibrium distribution of excited electrons and vibrational modes in the neutral species. The subsequent coupling among the electronic and nuclear degrees of freedom is monitored by probing the system with time-delayed 27 fs pulses at 797 nm of some 10(13) W cm(-2).

C60 in intense short pulse laser fields down to 9 fs: excitation on time scales below e-e and e-phonon coupling.

The interaction of C60 fullerenes with 765-797 nm laser pulses as short as 9 fs at intensities of up to 3.7 x 10(14) W cm(-2) is investigated with photoion spectroscopy. The excitation time thus addressed lies well below the characteristic time scales for electron-electron and electron-phonon couplings.