@phdthesis{Goetz2019,
  author    = {G{\"o}tz, Sebastian Reinhold},
  title     = {Nonlinear spectroscopy at the diffraction limit: probing ultrafast dynamics with shaped few-cycle laser pulses},
  doi       = {10.25972/OPUS-19213},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-192138},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {An experimental setup for probing ultrafast dynamics at the diffraction limit was developed, characterized and demonstrated in the scope of the thesis, aiming for optical investigations while simultaneously approaching the physical limits on the length and timescale. An overview of this experimental setup was given in Chapter 2, as well as the considerations that led to the selection of the individual components. Broadband laser pulses with a length of 9.3 fs, close to the transform limit of 7.6 fs, were focused in a NA = 1.4 immersion oil objective, to the diffraction limit of below 300 nm (FWHM). The spatial focus shape was characterized with off-resonance gold nanorod scatterers scanned through the focal volume. For further insights into the functionality and limitations of the pulse shaper, its calibration procedure was reviewed. The deviations between designed and experimental pulse shapes were attributed to pulse-shaper artifacts, including voltage-dependent inter-layer as well as intra-layer LCD-pixel crosstalk, Fabry-P{\´e}rot-type reflections in the LCD layers, and space-time coupling. A pixel-dependent correction was experimentally carried out, which can be seen as an extension of the initial calibration to all possible voltage combinations of the two LCD layers. The capabilities of the experimental setup were demonstrated in two types of experiments, targeting the nonlinearity of gold (Chapter 3) as well as two-dimensional spectroscopy at micro-structured surfaces (Chapter 4). Investigating thin films, an upper bound for the absolute value for the imaginary part of the nonlinear refractive index of gold could be set to |n′′ 2 (Au)| < 0.6·10-16 m2/W, together with |n′ 2 (Au)| < 1.2·10-16 m2/W as an upper bound for the absolute value of the real part. Finite-difference time-domain simulations on y-shaped gold nanostructures indicated that a phase change of ∆Φ ≥ 0.07 rad between two plasmonic modes would induce a sufficient change in the spatial contrast of emission to the far-field to be visible in the experiment. As the latter could not be observed, this value of ∆Φ was determined as the upper bound for the experimentally induced phase change. An upper bound of 52 GW/cm2 was found for the damage threshold. In Chapter 4, a novel method for nonlinear spectroscopy on surfaces was presented. Termed coherent two-dimensional fluorescence micro-spectroscopy, it is capable of exploring ultrafast dynamics in nanostructures and molecular systems at the diffraction limit. Two-dimensional spectra of spatially isolated hotspots in structured thin films of fluorinated zinc phthalocyanine (F16ZnPc) dye were taken with a 27-step phase-cycling scheme. Observed artifacts in the 2D maps were identified as a consequence from deviations between the desired and the experimental pulse shapes. The optimization procedures described in Chapter 2 successfully suppressed the deviations to a level where the separation from the nonlinear sample response was feasible. The experimental setup and methods developed and presented in the scope of this thesis demonstrate its flexibility and capability to study microscopic systems on surfaces. The systems exemplarily shown are consisting of metal-organic dyes and metallic nanostructures, represent samples currently under research in the growing fields of organic semiconductors and plasmonics.},
  subject      = {Ultrakurzzeitspektroskopie},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Lindner2019,
  author    = {Lindner, Joachim Oliver},
  title     = {Multistate Metadynamics with Electronic Collective Variables},
  doi       = {10.25972/OPUS-19163},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-191638},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {The aim of this thesis was to develop new automatic enhanced sampling methods by extending the idea of Parrinello's metadynamics to multistate problems and by introducing new quantum-mechanical electronic collective variables. These methods open up a rich perspective for applications to the photophysical processes in complex molecular systems, which play a major role in many natural processes such as vision and photosynthesis, but also in the development of new materials for organic electronics, whose function depends on specific electronic properties such as biradicalicity.},
  subject      = {Theoretische Chemie},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Eckstein2019,
  author    = {Eckstein, Klaus},
  title     = {Linear and Nonlinear Spectroscopy of Doped Carbon Nanotubes},
  doi       = {10.25972/OPUS-18897},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-188975},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {Doping plays a decisive role for the functionality of semiconductor-based (opto-)electronic devices. Hence, the technological utilization of semiconductors necessitates control and a fundamental understanding of the doping process. However, for low-dimensional systems like carbon nanotubes, neither concentration nor distribution of charge carriers is currently well known. The research presented in this thesis investigated the doping of semiconducting carbon nanotubes by spectroscopic methods. Samples of highly purified, intrinsic (6,5) single-wall carbon nanotubes were fabricated using polymer stabilization. Chapter 4 showed that both electro- and redox chemical \$p\$-doping lead to identical bleaching, blueshift, broadening and asymmetry of the S\$_1\$ exciton absorption band. The similar spectral changes induced by both doping schemes suggest that optical spectra can not be used to infer what process was used for doping. Perhaps more importantly, it also indicates that the distribution of charges and the character of the charge transfer states does not depend on the method by which doping was achieved. The detailed analysis of the doping-induced spectral changes in chapter 5 suggests that surplus charges are distributed inhomogeneously. The hypothesis of carrier localization is consistent with the high sensitivity of the S\$_1\$ exciton photoluminescence to additional charge carriers and with the stretched-exponential decay of the exciton population following ultrafast excitation. Both aspects are in good agreement with diffusion-limited contact quenching of excitons at localized charges. Moreover, localized charges act - similar to structural defects - as perturbations to the bandstructure as evidenced by a doping-induced increase of the D-band antiresonance in the mid-infrared spectrum. Quantum mechanical model calculations also suggest that counterions play a crucial role in carrier localization. Counterion adsorption at the nanotube surface is thus believed to induce charge traps of more than 100 meV depth with a carrier localization length on the order of 3 - 4 nm. The doping-induced bleach of interband absorption is accompanied by an absorption increase in the IR region below 600 meV. The observed shift of the IR peak position indicates a continuous transition from localized to rather delocalized charge carriers. This transition is caused by the increase of the overlap of charge carrier wavefunctions at higher charge densities and was modeled by classical Monte-Carlo simulations of intraband absorption. Chapter 6 discussed the spectroscopy of heavily (degenerately) doped nanotubes, which are characterized by a Drude-response of free-carrier intraband absorption in the optical conductivity spectrum. In the NIR spectral region, the S\$_1\$ exciton and X\$+^_1\$ trion absorption is replaced by a nearly 1 eV broad and constant absorption signal, the so-called H-band. The linear and transient absorption spectra of heavily doped nanotubes suggest that the H-band can be attributed to free-carrier interband transitions. Chapter 7 dealt with the quantification of charge carrier densities by linear absorption spectroscopy. A particularly good measure of the carrier density is the S\$_1\$ exciton bleach. For a bleach below about 50 \%, the carrier density is proportional to the bleach. At higher doping levels, deviations from the linear behavior were observed. For doping levels exceeding a fully bleached S\$_1\$ band, the determination of the normalized oscillator strength f\$\text{1st}\$ over the whole first subband region (trion, exciton, free e-h pairs) is recommended for quantification of carrier densities. Based on the nanotube density of states, the carrier density \$n\$ can be estimated using \$n = 0.74\,\text{nm}^{-1} \cdot (1 - f_\text{1st})\$. In the last part of this thesis (chapter 8), the time-resolved spectroelectrochemistry was extended to systems beyond photostable carbon nanotube films. The integration of a flowelectrolysis cell into the transient absorption spectrometer allows the investigation of in-situ electrochemically generated but photounstable molecules due to a continuous exchange of sample volume. First time-resolved experiments were successfully performed using the dye methylene blue and its electrochemically reduced form leucomethylene blue.},
  subject      = {Dotierung},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Heilos2019,
  author    = {Heilos, Anna},
  title     = {Mechanistic Insights into the Inhibition of Cathepsin B and Rhodesain with Low-Molecular Inhibitors},
  doi       = {10.25972/OPUS-17822},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-178228},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {Cysteine proteases play a crucial role in medical chemistry concerning various fields reaching from more common ailments like cancer and hepatitis to less noted tropical diseases, namely the so-called African Sleeping Sickness (Human Arfican Trypanosomiasis). Detailed knowledge about the catalytic function of these systems is highly desirable for drug research in the respective areas. In this work, the inhibition mechanisms of the two cysteine proteases cathepsin B and rhodesain with respectively one low-molecular inhibitor class were investigated in detail, using computational methods. In order to sufficiently describe macromolecular systems, molecular mechanics based methods (MM) and quantum mechanical based method (QM), as well as hybrid methods (QM/MM) combining those two approaches, were applied. For Cathespin B, carbamate-based molecules were investigated as potential inhibitors for the cysteine protease. The results indicate, that water-bridged proton-transfer reactions play a crucial role for the inhibition. The energetically most favoured pathway (according to the calculations) includes an elimination reaction following an E1cB mechanism with a subsequent carbamylation of the active site amino acid cysteine. Nitroalkene derivatives were investigated as inhibitors for rhodesain. The investigation of structurally similar inhibitors showed, that even small steric differences can crucially influence the inhibition potential of the components. Furthermore, the impact of a fluorination of the nitroalkene inhibitors on the inhibition mechanism was investigated. According to experimental data measured from the working group of professor Schirmeister in Mainz, fluorinated nitroalkenes show - in contrast to the unfluorinated compounds - a time dependent inhibition efficiency. The calculations of the systems indicate, that the fluorination impacts the non-covalent interactions of the inhibitors with the enzymatic environment of the enzyme which results in a different inhibition behaviour.},
  subject      = {Cysteinproteasen},
  language  = {en}
}