Combustion-generated carbon black nano particles, or soot, have both positive and negative effects depending on the application. From a positive point of view, it is used as a reinforcing agent in tires, black pigment in inks, and surface coatings. From a negative point of view, it affects performance and durability of many combustion systems, it is a major contributor of global warming, and it is linked to respiratory illness and cancer. Laser-Induced Incandescence (LII) was used in this study to measure soot volume fractions in four steady and twenty-eight pulsed ethylene diffusion flames burning at atmospheric pressure. A laminar coflow diffusion burner combined with a very-high-speed solenoid valve and control circuit provided unsteady flows by forcing the fuel flow with frequencies between 10 Hz and 200 Hz. Periodic flame oscillations were captured by two-dimensional phase-locked LII images and broadband luminosity images for eight phases (0°- 360°) covering each period. A comparison between the steady and pulsed flames and the effect of the pulsation frequency on soot volume fraction in the flame region and the post flame region are presented. The most significant effect of pulsing frequency was observed at 10 Hz. At this frequency, the flame with the lowest mean flow rate had 1.77 times enhancement in peak soot volume fraction and 1.2 times enhancement in total soot volume fraction; whereas the flame with the highest mean flow rate had no significant change in the peak soot volume fraction and 1.4 times reduction in the total soot volume fraction. A correlation (ƒv Reˉ1 = a+b· Str) for the total soot volume fraction in the flame region for the unsteady laminar ethylene flames was obtained for the pulsation frequency between 10 Hz and 200 Hz, and the Reynolds number between 37 and 55. The soot primary particle size in steady and unsteady flames was measured using the Time-Resolved Laser-Induced Incandescence (TIRE-LII) and the double-exponential fit method. At maximum frequency (200 Hz), the soot particles were smaller in size by 15% compared to the steady case in the flame with the highest mean flow rate.

Solvent effects play diverse roles in myriads of chemical, physical and biological processes. The solvent interacts with the solute by: i) non-specific (Coulombic, van der Waals interactions) and ii) specific interactions (hydrogen bonding, etc.). These interactions are responsible for solvation of the solute and are collectively termed as “solvent polarity”. Differential solvation of ground and excited electronic states is manifested in the absorption spectrum as a change in the band position, intensity or shape, which is termed as “solvatochromism”. Intermolecular hydrogen bonding (IHB) is a kind of specific solute-solvent interaction, which plays a key role in molecular or supramolecular photochemistry, as well as in photobiology. Solvation and its influence on various physico-chemical and biological processes can be understood by i) top-down; and ii) bottom-up approaches. In the top-down approach, the macroscopic properties like dielectric constant, refractive index are used to understand the microscopic solvation. This approach fails when specific interactions like hydrogen bonding interactions come into play, and furthermore it can reproduce only the macroscopic polarization of the solvent but fails miserably at the cybotactic region of solvation. With the recent advancements in the computational field, the molecular level description of solvation has been within reach for chemical physicists and experimentalists to corroborate their experimental results and in turn to visualize processes of fundamental or technologically relevant problems. The energy levels of the nπ* and ππ* singlet and triplet excited states of aromatic ketones are close-lying and therefore their energy levels can be altered by the substituents. The solvent polarity can be used as a surrogate to tune their energy levels. In certain cases, the lowest triplet or singlet excited states can switch their electronic character with increasing solvent polarity known as “electronic state switching” and thus modulate their photochemical or photophysical properties. Therefore, aromatic ketones were used as solvatochromic probes in this work. Comprehensive analyses of the solvent effects on xanthone (XT), 9,10-phenanthrenequinone (PQ) and benzophenone (Bzp) were carried out using steady-state and nanosecond time-resolved absorption, and resonance Raman spectroscopy in conjunction with ad hoc and classical-molecular dynamics and simulations generated supermolecule-continuum solvent model quantum mechanical calculations to corroborate the experimental outcomes and in turn to visualize the solvation process at the molecular level. The present thesis is divided into eight chapters and the summary of each chapter is described below: Chapter 1 provides a brief literature review of solvation effects and their influence on various physico-chemical and biological processes. Furthermore, the importance of understanding solvation at the molecular level and key concepts are discussed, which forms the heart of this thesis. Chapter 2 discusses the experimental and computational approaches used to study the solvation processes at the molecular level. A detailed explanation of spectroscopic techniques like resonance Raman (RR) and nanosecond-time resolved resonance Raman (ns-TR3) spectroscopy and their experimental and theoretical aspects are discussed, followed by a discussion on the fundamental concepts of computational methods like ab initio calculations density functional theory (DFT), and classical molecular dynamics and simulations (c-MDS) utilized in this study. Chapter 3 focuses on microscopic understanding of solvatochromic shifts observed for 9,10-phenanthrenequinone in protic solvents using UV-Vis and RR spectroscopy in conjunction with an ad hoc explicit solvation model and time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) calculations. The hypsochromic shift and bathochromic shift of the singlet nπ* and ππ* electronic transitions in protic solvents are due to hydrogen bond weakening and strengthening in the excited state for the corresponding electronic transitions, respectively as indicated by TD-DFT calculations and Kamlet-Taft linear solvation energy relationships. The hydrogen bond strengthening in the singlet ππ* excited state is further confirmed by Raman excitation profile (REP) analysis of PQ in different solvents. Furthermore, with increasing solvent polarity the two lowest singlet excited states undergo different hydrogen bonding mechanisms, leading to a decreasing energy gap between them. Therefore, hyperchromism of the nπ* transition has been hypothesized to be due to an increasing vibronic coupling between the lowest singlet nπ* and ππ* excited states. In Chapter 4, a real time observation of the thermal equilibrium between the lowest triplet excited states of PQ in acetonitrile solvent was carried out using ns-TR3 spectroscopy and this can explain its high reactivity towards H-atom abstraction, despite the fact that the lowest triplet excited state has ππ* character. Furthermore, extending the concept of hydrogen bonding mechanisms of the lowest singlet to the triplet excited states, the different hydrogen bonding mechanisms exhibited by them can lead to alteration of the intersystem crossing mechanisms in PQ. Chapter 5 highlights the very different role of intermolecular hydrogen bonding in the reduced reactivity of the xanthone (XT) triplet towards H-atom abstraction in protic solvents. The different hydrogen bonding mechanisms exhibited by the two lowest triplet excited states in protic solvents are derived from an ad hoc explicit solvation model, TD-DFT calculations and ns-time resolved absorption (ns-TRA): they separate them further in energy and thereby the nearest T2(nπ*) triplet state to the T1(ππ*) excited state plays an insignificant role in the reactivity towards H-atom abstraction, in contrast to the PQ triplet discussed in Chapter 4. Chapter 6 discusses the structure of XT triplet states using TR3 spectroscopy in combination with TD-DFT studies. The TR3 spectrum of the XT in acetonitrile identified a vibronic coupling mode responsible for the reactivity of XT towards H-atom abstraction, despite the fact that the lowest triplet excited state (T1) has ππ* character. This vibronic active mode is absent in the TR3 spectra of XT in protic solvents (methanol and ethanol). Furthermore, the REP analysis suggests that the nanosecond triplet-triplet absorption spectrum of XT in acetonitrile involves two different species, while in methanol it involves only one species. This observation is in agreement with the previous chapter (Chapter 5) which proposes a different hydrogen bonding mechanisms for the two lowest triplet excited states and their influence on the reduced reactivity towards H-atom abstraction. Chapters 3-6 emphasize the need for a proper solvation model at the molecular level to describe the various photophysical and photochemical processes of aromatic ketones. Therefore, Chapter 7 includes discussions on the bottom-up solvation methodology applied to benzophenone (Bzp) to understand its vibrational and electronic solvatochromic behaviour at the molecular level. Raman and UV-Vis spectroscopic techniques were used in conjunction with a c-MDS-generated supermolecule continuum solvation model DFT calculation to corroborate and to visualize the experimental outcome. The carbonyl stretching frequency of Bzp in protic solvents has two bands, corresponding to free carbonyl and hydrogen bonded carbonyl. Despite the fact that the macroscopic polarity of acetonitrile and methanol solvents are similar, the free carbonyl stretching of Bzp in methanol solvent was blue-shifted by 4 cm-1 with respect to the carbonyl stretching in acetonitrile solvent. The Gutmann’s acceptor number plot for carbonyl stretching frequencies indicates that the free carbonyl group is neighboured by a hydrophobic environment. The c-MDS-generated supermolecule-continuum solvation model DFT calculations suggest that the extended hydrogen bonding network of methanol solvent is responsible for the hydrophobic solvation around the free carbonyl. Furthermore, a linear correlation was obtained for the vibrational and electronic solvatochromism of the carbonyl frequency and energy of the singlet nπ* transition, respectively, which indicates that a variation in excitation wavelength for the singlet nπ* transition can arise from different solvation states. This can have implications for ultrafast processes associated with electron transfer, charge-transfer and also the photophysical aspects of excited states.Finally, Chapter 8 contains overall conclusions of the thesis and future directions for the present research area.

Les isolants de Mott sont un exemple parfait de l’impact des corrélations électroniques locales sur les propriétés macroscopiques des matériaux. En variant légèrement le dopage ou la pression, un métal peut se transformer en un isolant. Ces propriétés peuvent être modifiées de manière très rapide en plaçant ces matériaux loin de l'équilibre. Nous avons étudié un prototype de Mott-Hubbard, V2O3 dopé en Cr, en utilisant l'état de l’art des techniques pompe-sonde, à savoir la photoémission résolue en angle, la réflectivité optique, la spectroscopie THz, et la diffraction des rayons X. La réponse électronique du système, après une excitation laser femtoseconde, qui a été maintenue pour chaque expérience à une longueur d'onde de 800 nm, a pu être déconvoluée de la réponse du réseau. Une étude comparative de ces réponses transitoires démontre un fort couplage électron-phonon dans ce prototype de matériau fortement corrélé. Avant thermalisation, le poids spectral est transféré de la bande de Hubbard inférieure vers le gap de Mott. Sur une échelle de temps plus long un état métastable est stabilisé par un changement structural. Pour mieux comprendre la réponse transitoire des isolants de Mott, nous avons également étudié un autre composé de Mott, BaCo1-xNixS2. Les tendances générales des isolants de Mott après photoexcitation ont été analysées en utilisant un modèle à deux orbitales. Nous interprétons que le remplissage du gap comme un changement spécifique des occupations orbitales. / Mott insulators are a perfect example of how local electronic correlations can change macroscopic properties of materials. Varying slightly the doping or the pressure can transform a metal to an insulator. These properties can be modified extremely rapidly by driving these materials far from equilibrium. We have investigated the model Mott-Hubbard material Cr-doped V2O3 using state of the art pump-probe techniques, namely angle resolved photoelectron spectroscopy, optical reflectivity, THz time-domain spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. We were able to unequivocally disentangle the electronic and the lattice response of the system to a femtosecond laser excitation, which was kept in all cases at a wavelength of 800 nm. We present a comparative study of these transient responses, which demonstrates the strong electron-phonon coupling of this strongly correlated model material. We show that before thermalization, spectral weight is transferred from the lower Hubbard band towards the Mott gap. On a longer time scale a metastable state is stabilized by the lattice structure. To further understand the transient response of Mott insulators, we have also studied another Mott compound, BaCo1-xNixS2. The general trends of photoexcitation in Mott insulators are analyzed using a two orbital model. We argue that the filling of the gap can be due to a change of the specific orbital fillings.

The aim of the doctoral thesis was to study advanced fluorescence techniques and its use in colloids or hyaluronan-surfactant systems and hydrogels based on hyaluronan, respectively. Steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence were used to study excited state proton transfer fluroescen probes in hyaluronan-surfactant systems to asses the influence of hyaluronan hydration to its interactions with oppositely charged surfactants. Firstly, different excited state proton transfer fluorescence probes were discussed to choose the most suitable candidate for next research. The influence of hyaluronan on inner environment of micells was determined based on the sensitivity of excited state proton transfer of chosen fluorescence probe 1-naphtol and, based on above mentioned experiments, the structure of hyaluronan hydration shell was discussed. The next part of doctoral thesis was focused on fluorescence lifetime correlation spectroscopy and on the development of method of nanorheology. Measured correlation functions were transformed to mean square displacement with developed MATLAB script. Firstly, the fluorescence method was compared with well described methods such as videomicrorheology and dynamic light scattering to asses the reliability of fluorescence correlation spectroscopy in microrheology. Secondly, nanorheology method was developed and its use in passive nanorheology of hyaluronan hydrogels was discussed. Based on mentioned experiments, the fluorescence correlation spectroscopy microrheology and nanorheology methods were optimized to use the methods in hydrogel research.

This work is dealing with application of advanced fluorescence techniques for gaining knowledge about culture development during fermentation of red yeasts. Flow cytometry was used for auto-fluorescence measurement a carotenoids quantitation. It was resolved that while carotenoids are stored mainly in membranes the technique was feasible. If red yeast starts to accumulate carotenoids into lipid bodies mainly throughout the course of stationary phase, then the method starts to fail. Flow cytometric method using cell size measurement and light scatter for lipid quantitation was proved as applicable, too. However, it works only if cells are not starved. Individual calibration for each species is needed for elimination inter-species variations of intracellular structures. Fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy was also used for studying of red yeast. Inherent ability to resolve different fluorescent species of the same molecule, which arise due to different molecular environment, helps with quantitation of cellular lipidic structures changes through the course of fermentation. Increase in the levels of carotenoids and/or rigidity of membranes was found as mechanism of protection during metabolic shifts, when intracellular content is vulnerable to damage.

Věra Mansfeldová: Time-resolved potentiometry on liquid-liquid interface (Dissertation thesis) Abstract The aim of this work is to explore the method of temporal resolution in potentiometry as a new prospective electrochemical analytical technique. In connection with interface of two immiscible electrolyte solutions (ITIES) it may find utilization in analytical chemistry. This technique up to my knowledge has not been published yet. Potential response of analyte on liquid/liquid interface includes both distribution processes, their temporal resolution and redox processes, which specificity can modified by changing the composition of individual phases. Unlike "classic" potentiometric techniques, limited just to potential determination, this method, which I have given the working name "time resolved potentiometry at liquid-liquid interface" utilizes time development of potential response, which was found to be an analyte-specific function. The time resolved potentiometry presented in this work includes time course of potential response to analytical parameters specific for particular analyte. It brings series of data characterizing the analyte in given environment in a similar manner as spectra and may allow creating analyte-specific data package - fingerprint. Combination with ITIES allows, unlike...

Intense few-cycle laser pulses can significantly affect the properties of transparent solids during the interaction. These processes take place on femtosecond time scales and they can be studied using ultrafast spectroscopic methods. This dissertation deals with highly nonlinear processes in diamond. In the interaction with a crystalline diamond, we observed a strong nonlinear broadening of the spectrum due to self-phase modulation effect, which allowed us to create a simple technique for compression of pulses from laser oscillator. At the same time, strongly nonlinear five-photon absorption was observed, in which we found a significant anisotropy and dependence on the polarization state. With two-beam pump and probe experiments we present a study of anharmonic phenomena in the dynamics of coherent phonons in diamond, additionally we created a new detection technique of lattice vibrations using multiphoton absorption. Finally, the high time resolution of the experiments revealed that the sub-picosecond electron dynamics strongly depends on the composition and morphology of the polycrystalline diamond thin films. The experimental results of this work provide comprehensive research into the interaction of diamond with few-cycle laser pulses and the development of new spectroscopic methods.

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La haute sensibilité et l’analyse simultanée de plusieurs biomarqueurs (multiplexage) sont des enjeux essentiels pour permettre des avancées significatives pour le diagnostic médical. De telles avancées permettraient d’augmenter la précocité des diagnostics pour de nombreuses maladies comme le cancer ou des maladies cardiaques. Les immunodosages de FRET (transfer d’énergie par resonance de type Förster) sont basées sur la reconnaissance de biomarqueurs par des anticorps marqués avec des fluorophores et le FRET qui résulte du processus de reconnaissance immunologique. Aujourd’hui des telles immunodosages sont établis en utilisant des lanthanides comme donneurs de FRET et des fluorophores organiques comme accepteurs de FRET. Néanmoins, ils ne permettent pas de réaliser un multiplexage efficace car l’utilisation de plusieurs différents fluorophores organiques résulte dans un recouvrement spectral. Ce projet a pour but de mettre en application les propriétés optiques exceptionnelles des complexes de terbium (Tb) et des boîtes quantiques (QDs) pour parvenir à des analyses biologiques de FRET multiplexées et ultrasensibles. Nous avons également étudié les propriétés optiques et morphologiques de nouvelles nanoparticules à conversion ascendante de type coeur et coeur/coquille dopées à l'ytterbium (Yb) et des ions d'erbium (Er) comme donneurs de FRET. / Combining high sensitivity with simultaneous analysis of numerous biomarkers (multiplexing) is an essential requirement for significantly improving the field of biomedical diagnostics. Such progresses would allow earlier diagnosis, which is required for numerous diseases such as cancer or cardiac diseases. FRET-immunoassays are based on biomolecular recognition events that occur between biomarkers and two specific antibodies conjugated with different fluorophores. The spatial proximity of the two fluorophores can lead to Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET), which can be detected for biomarker quantification. To date, such assays are established using lanthanide complexes as FRET donors and fluorescence dyes as FRET acceptors. However, these assays do not provide sufficient multiplexing capability due to spectral overlap, when several acceptor dyes are used. This project aims at exploiting the exceptional photophysical properties of terbium complexes (Tb) and semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) to provide ultrasensitive multiplexed FRETimmunoassays. We also studied the optical and morphological properties of novel core and core/shell upconverting nanoparticles doped with ytterbium (Yb) and erbium (Er) ions as possible FRET-donors for biosensing.

Les biomarqueurs à base d’acides nucléiques, qui sont impliqués dans le contrôle de l'expression génétique, sont spécifiques de nombreux types de cancers. Les applications basées sur le transfert d'énergie par résonance de Förster (FRET) sont parmi les plus prometteuses pour la biodétection d’acides nucléiques. Comme la détection simultanée de plusieurs acides nucléiques est très demandée et que le multiplexage spectral est limité par des interférences (optical crosstalk), le multiplexage temporel est utilisé ici pour ajouter de nouvelles possibilités de multiples détections simultanées. La thèse porte sur le développement de systèmes comprenant différentes distances entre molécules donneuses et acceptrices de FRET (Terbium vers fluorophores) pour créer des signaux d'intensité spécifiques correspondant à différentes séquences d'acides nucléiques. Les distances Tb-to-dye peuvent être arrangées en positionnant spécifiquement le donneur Tb sur des molécules d’ADN de différentes longueurs. Les technologies d'amplification d’acides nucléiques, telles que la réaction d'hybridation en chaîne (HCR) et l’amplification circulaire de l’ADN (RCA), ont été utilisées pour obtenir simplicité, rapidité, sélectivité et sensibilité dans la détection d’acides nucléiques. Le multiplexage temporel du signal de FRET a également été combiné avec le multiplexage spectral (couleur) pour le démultiplier. De plus, la possibilité d'un multiplexage temporel à base de nanoparticules a été démontrée. / Nucleic acid biomarkers, which involve in gene expression control, are found specific for many kinds of cancers. Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) based applications are one of the most promising for nucleic acid biosensing. As parallel detection of multiple nucleic acids is highly demanded and spectral multiplexing is limited by optical crosstalk, temporal multiplexing is used for opening another dimension of the multiplexing. The thesis focuses on developing different Tb-to-dye FRET distances to create specific intensity signals corresponding to different nucleic acid sequences. The Tb-dye distances can be tuned by specific location of the Tb donor using different lengths of DNA. Amplification technologies, such as hybridization chain reaction (HCR) and rolling circle amplification (RCA), are used to achieve simplicity, rapidity, selectivity, and sensitivity of nucleic acid detection. Temporal multiplexing FRET was also combined with spectral (color) multiplexing for higher order multiplexed detection. Moreover, a single Tb-QD FRET modeling demonstrated the possibility of nanoparticle-based temporal multiplexing.