Research Highlights
Dr. Chia-Lung Hsieh
(2022)
Yi-Teng Hsiao, Chia-Ni Tsai, Te-Hsin Chen, Chia-Lung Hsieh*
ACS Nano, ASAP (2021)
Chromatin is a DNA–protein complex that is densely packed in the cell nucleus. The nanoscale chromatin compaction plays critical roles in the modulation of cell nuclear processes. However, little is known about the spatiotemporal dynamics of chromatin compaction states because it remains difficult to quantitatively measure the chromatin compaction level in live cells. Here, we demonstrate a strategy, referenced as DYNAMICS imaging, for mapping chromatin organization in live cell nuclei by analyzing the dynamic scattering signal of molecular fluctuations. Highly sensitive optical interference microscopy, coherent brightfield (COBRI) microscopy, is implemented to detect the linear scattering of unlabeled chromatin at a high speed. A theoretical model is established to determine the local chromatin density from the statistical fluctuation of the measured scattering signal. DYNAMICS imaging allows us to reconstruct a speckle-free nucleus map that is highly correlated to the fluorescence chromatin image. Moreover, together with calibration based on nanoparticle colloids, we show that the DYNAMICS signal is sensitive to the chromatin compaction level at the nanoscale. We confirm the effectiveness of DYNAMICS imaging in detecting the condensation and decondensation of chromatin induced by chemical drug treatments. Importantly, the stable scattering signal supports a continuous observation of the chromatin condensation and decondensation processes for more than 1 h. Using this technique, we detect transient and nanoscopic chromatin condensation events occurring on a time scale of a few seconds. Label-free DYNAMICS imaging offers the opportunity to investigate chromatin conformational dynamics and to explore their significance in various gene activities.
Hao-Ting Chin, Jiri Klimes, I-Fan Hu, Ding-Rui Chen, Hai-Thai Nguyen, Ting-Wei Chen, Shao-Wei Ma, Mario Hofmann, Chi-Te Liang & Ya-Ping Hsieh
Nature Communications, 12:6291 (2021).
We here report on the direct observation of ferroelectric properties of water ice in its 2D phase. Upon nanoelectromechanical confinement between two graphene layers, water forms a 2D ice phase at room temperature that exhibits a strong and permanent dipole which depends on the previously applied field, representing clear evidence for ferroelectric ordering. Characterization of this permanent polarization with respect to varying water partial pressure and temperature reveals the importance of forming a monolayer of 2D ice for ferroelectric ordering which agrees with ab-initio and molecular dynamics simulations conducted. The observed robust ferroelectric properties of 2D ice enable novel nanoelectromechanical devices that exhibit memristive properties. A unique bipolar mechanical switching behavior is observed where previous charging history controls the transition voltage between low-resistance and high-resistance state. This advance enables the realization of rugged, non-volatile, mechanical memory exhibiting switching ratios of 106, 4 bit storage capabilities and no degradation after 10,000 switching cycles.
Ming-Wei Lee, Yi-Ting Chuang, and Liang-Yan Hsu*
Journal of Chemical Physics 155, 074101 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0057018
![Representative picture of Theory of molecular emission power spectra. II. Angle, frequency, and distance dependence of electromagnetic environment factor of a molecular emitter in plasmonic environments [Special Issue: 2021 JCP Emerging Investigators Special Collection]](../image/research/org/research-251.jpg "Representative picture of Theory of molecular emission power spectra. II. Angle, frequency, and distance dependence of electromagnetic environment factor of a molecular emitter in plasmonic environments [Special Issue: 2021 JCP Emerging Investigators Special Collection]")
Our previous study [S. Wang et al., J. Chem. Phys. 153, 184102 (2020)] has shown that in a complex dielectric environment, molecular emission power spectra can be expressed as the product of the lineshape function and the electromagnetic environment factor (EEF). In this work, we focus on EEFs in a vacuum–NaCl–silver system and investigate molecular emission power spectra in the strong exciton–polariton coupling regime. A numerical method based on computational electrodynamics is presented to calculate the EEFs of single-molecule emitters in a dispersive and lossy dielectric environment with arbitrary shapes. The EEFs in the far-field region depend on the detector position, emission frequency, and molecular orientation. We quantitatively analyze the asymptotic behavior of the EFFs in the far-field region and qualitatively provide a physical picture. The concept of EEF should be transferable to other types of spectra in a complex dielectric environment. Finally, our study indicates that molecular emission power spectra cannot be simply interpreted by the lineshape function (quantum dynamics of a molecular emitter), and the effect of the EEFs (photon propagation in a dielectric environment) has to be carefully considered.
Ying-Yu Wang, Ding-Rui Chen, Jen-Kai Wu, Tian-Hsin Wang, Chiashain Chuang, Ssu-Yen Huang, Wen-Pin Hsieh, Mario Hofmann, Yuan-Huei Chang, Ya-Ping Hsieh*
Nano Lett., https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c02331 (2021).
We here demonstrate the multifunctional properties of atomically thin heterojunctions that are enabled by strong interfacial interactions and their integration into ultra-high performance, self-powered sensors. Epitaxial alignment between tin diselenide and graphene through direct growth produces thermoelectric and mechanoelectric properties beyond the ability of either component. An unprecedented ZT of 2.43 originated from the synergistic combination of graphene’s high carrier conductivity and SnSe2 mediated thermal conductivity lowering. Moreover, strong interaction at the SnSe2/graphene interface produces stress localization that results in a novel 2D-crack-assisted strain sensing mechanism whose sensitivity (GF=450) is superior to all other 2D materials. Finally, the graphene-assisted growth process, permits the formation of high-quality heterojunctions directly on polymeric substrates for flexible and transparent self-powered sensors that achieve fast and reliable strain sensing from a small temperature gradient. Our work enhances the fundamental understanding of multifunctionality at the atomic scale and provide a route towards structural health monitoring through ubiquitous and smart devices.
Y. H. Chan, Diana Y. Qiu, Felipe H. da Jornada, and Steven G. Louie
Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences
Shift current is a direct current generated from nonlinear light–matter interaction in a noncentrosymmetric crystal and is considered a promising candidate for next-generation photovoltaic devices. The mechanism for shift currents in real materials is, however, still not well understood, especially if electron–hole interactions are included. Here, we employ a first-principles interacting Green’s-function approach on the Keldysh contour with real-time propagation to study photocurrents generated by nonlinear optical processes under continuous wave illumination in real materials. We demonstrate a strong direct current shift current at subbandgap excitation frequencies in monolayer GeS due to strongly bound excitons, as well as a giant excitonic enhancement in the shift current coefficients at above bandgap photon frequencies. Our results suggest that atomically thin two-dimensional materials may be promising building blocks for next-generation shift current devices.
Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences Academia Sinica
