DOCTORAL CANDIDATE 9

This project will develop compact and ruggedized versions of Mach Zehnder Interferometers (MZIs) for dispersion spectroscopy, which measures the wavelength dependent phase-shift between the reference (solvent) and the analyte (sample) arm of the MZI and takes advantage of ICL excitation. It is: i) baseline free, ii) has immunity to source intensity fluctuations, iii) constant sensitivity over studied concentrations and iv) large dynamic range. For protein folding the chemical denaturation of α-chymotrypsin will be investigated focusing on the early stages of formation of α-helical structure after addition of the denaturation reagent, e.g. TFE. Chymotrypsin is an enzyme whose major function is to breakdown other proteins (proteolysis) and has been well studied for its role in the human body. Chymotrypsin is sensitive to pH, solvents and presence of other chemicals and monitoring its denaturation is relevant in quality control This provides DC9 with deep knowledge on physics of protein structures, biochemical assays and designing biochemical experiments. The first version will be a bench-top MZI interferometer with active phase control in one arm (TU-WIEN). The second version will be a SpectroModule with a passive, fully integrated chip based MZI with three outputs (2X3 MMI coupler) which takes advantage of waveguide technology developed by DCs 1 and 2. The output beams will be coupled to an ICD detector array (JMU). DC9 will conduct epitaxial growth of advanced active region designs to realise high performance detector arrays and also work with DC1 to optimize the electrical power consumption and hence wall plug efficiency of long wavelength ICLs.