Structural Modification of DNA Studied by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy.

In addition to the well-known double-helix structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), theoretical simulations have predicted structural variants, such as cross and T-shaped formations. The direct visualization of individual DNA molecules by scanning probe microscopy should be able to identify these structures. In this study, we examine various structures of DNA deposited on Au(111) by using an electrospray method and analyzing with a low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope. We could identify in detail several interesting structures. In particular, we found that double-stranded DNAs are partially unraveled into single-stranded DNAs and we confirmed the presence of T-shaped DNA structures.

Organic-crystal light-emitting field-effect transistors driven by square-wave gate voltages.

We have improved the operation method of organic light-emitting field-effect transistors by applying a square wave to the gate electrode. A thiophene/phenylene co-oligomer crystal was used as the organic layer. Compared with the sinusoidal wave gate bias application, the square-wave bias produces the emission intensity ten times as large as that of the former. The effective emissions take place through electrons injection from the source contact when the gate bias traverses 0 V so as to be positive. When asymmetric electrodes were used for the source and drain contacts, the resulting emission exhibited the narrowed spectral line at 491.5 nm with its FWHM approximately 1.1 nm. The line narrowing is expected to be a consequence of the emission intensity increment caused by the enhanced electrons injection from the Ag source contact. The location of the emission line is closely related to those of the multimodes due to the laser oscillation by cavity resonance.