Enhanced optical second-harmonic generation from the current-biased graphene/SiO2/Si(001) structure.

We find that optical second-harmonic generation (SHG) in reflection from a chemical-vapor-deposition graphene monolayer transferred onto a SiO2/Si(001) substrate is enhanced about 3 times by the flow of direct current electric current in graphene. Measurements of rotational-anisotropy SHG revealed that the current-induced SHG from the current-biased graphene/SiO2/Si(001) structure undergoes a phase inversion as the measurement location on graphene is shifted laterally along the current flow direction. The enhancement is due to current-associated charge trapping at the graphene/SiO2 interface, which introduces a vertical electric field across the SiO2/Si interface that produces electric field-induced SHG.

Ultrafast hopping dynamics of 5f electrons in the Mott insulator UO₂ studied by femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy.

We describe a femtosecond pump-probe study of ultrafast hopping dynamics of 5f electrons in the Mott insulator UO₂ following Mott-gap excitation at temperatures of 5-300 K. Hopping-induced response of the lattice and electrons is probed by transient reflectivity at mid- and above-gap photon energies, respectively. These measurements show an instantaneous hop, subsequent picosecond lattice deformation, followed by acoustic phonon emission and microsecond relaxation.

Proton driven vase-to-kite conformational change in cavitands at an air-water interface monitored by surface SHG.

The conformational changes of quinoxaline-bridged cavitands deposited as Langmuir films were monitored at different pH values of the subphase using surface second harmonic generation during the compression of the monolayer at the water surface. A quantitative analysis of the susceptibility tensor elements was performed for methylene (MeCav)- and quinoxaline (QxCav)-bridged cavitands for pH values varying between 5.7 and 0.