Cyr61 has been reported to participate in the development and progression of various cancers; however, its role in prostate cancer (PCa) still remains poorly understood. In this study, we explored the function of Cyr61 in a series of malignant PCa cell lines, including LnCap, Du145, and PC3. 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) and crystal violet assays demonstrated that Cyr61 was essential for the proliferation of PCa cells. Soft agar assay and xenograft analysis showed that downregulation of Cyr61 suppressed the tumorigenicity of Du145 cells both in vitro and in vivo. Either silencing the cellular Cyr61 by RNA interference or neutralising the endogenous Cyr61 by antibody inhibited the migration of Du145 cells. In contrast, purified protein of Cyr61 promoted the migration of LnCap cells in a dose-dependent manner. These results suggested that Cyr61 was involved in the migration of PCa cells. We also observed the accumulation of mature focal adhesion complexes associated with the impaired migration through Cyr61 downregulation. Also, further studies showed that Cyr61 regulated the level of activated Rac1 as well as its downstream targets, including phosphorylated JNK, E-cadherin, and p27 kip1 , which are key molecules involved in cell growth, migration, and invasion. The in vivo mouse tail vein injection experiment revealed that Cyr61 affected the metastatic capacity of Du145 cells, suggesting that Cyr61 was required for prostate tumour metastasis. Altogether, our results demonstrated that Cyr61 played an important role in the tumorigenicity and metastasis of PCa cells, which will benefit the development of therapeutic strategy for PCas.

We present the photocurrent spectrum study of a quantum dot (QD) single-photon detector using a reset technique which eliminates the QD's “memory effect.” By applying a proper reset frequency and keeping the detector in linear-response region, the detector's responses to different monochromatic light are resolved which reflects different detection efficiencies. We find the reset photocurrent tails up to 1.3 μm wavelength and near-infrared (∼1100 nm) single-photon sensitivity is demonstrated due to interband transition of electrons in QDs, indicating the device a promising candidate both in quantum information applications and highly sensitive imaging applications operating in relative high temperatures (>80 K).

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We have investigated the electronic structure of InN epilayers grown by molecular beam epitaxy at different growth temperatures by hard X-ray photoemission spectroscopy. We observed filled electronic states in the conduction band of the InN films. Integral intensity of the filled electronic states developed with decreasing growth temperature. The decreasing growth temperature induced increasing oxygen incorporation into the InN films and increasing carrier concentration and optical band gap of the InN films. Therefore, the filled electronic states should be indicated the filling of carriers in the conduction band caused by oxygen incorporation and the present results support the Burstein-Moss shift.

A combination of quasi-one-dimensional grating and plasmonic micro-cavity is proposed as a normal-illuminated optical coupler for a long wavelength quantum cascade infrared detector. A finite difference time-domain method is used to numerically simulate the reflection spectra and the field distributions of the optical coupler. The average |Ez|2 in the active layer reaches 4.1 (V/m)2 under the 13.5 μm infrared normal illumination with a strength of 1 (V/m)2. A mixed state of localized surface plasmon and surface plasmonic polariton is observed. The results confirm that the quasi-one-dimensional grating plasmonic micro-cavity structure could generate more plasma excitation source, and as a consequence, a high optical coupling efficiency of 410% in the active region is obtained. Moreover, an excellent polarization-discriminating performance is observed.

Ga 1-x Mn x N diluted magnetic semiconductor (DMS) films were grown by NH 3 -MBE at different growth temperatures. Single phase Ga 1-x Mn x N films were characterized by RHEED, XRD and AFM. Magnetization measurements showed single paramagnetic phase in GaMnN films grown at 700 °C, while ferromagnetic and paramagnetic phases coexisted in films grown at a lower temperature (600 °C). The paramagnetic behavior is attributed to the intrinsic property of Ga 1-x Mn x N films, while the origin of ferromagnetism of the sample grown at lower temperature is yet unclear.

The weak antilocalization effect of InSb film in perpendicular as well as tilted magnetic field is investigated. It is found that the InSb film has quasi-two-dimensional feature and the Nyquist mechanism dominates decoherence.The two dimensionality is also verified further and the influence of roughness effect and Zeeman effect on weak antilocalization effect is studied by systematically investigating the anisotropy of weak field magnetoresistance with respect to magnetic field. It is also found that the existence of in-plane field can effectively suppress the weak antilocalization effect of InSb film and the roughness effect plays an important role in the anisotropy.

A series of InAsxSb1−x ternary thin films (x = 0-0.4) has been studied in a far-infrared reflection experiment over the range of 50-4000 cm−1 at room temperature. The obtained spectra are fitted using a multi-oscillator model. Two types of lattice vibration modes, InSb-like and InAs-like, plus one plasmon mode have been identified in x > 0 samples. The lattice vibration in these ternary alloy films shows a typical two-mode behavior. Within the studied fraction range, the InSb transverse-optical (TO) phonon frequency decreases with x, while the InAs TO frequency increases. A random-element-isodisplacement model has been employed to describe the phonon frequency changes. The fitted plasmon parameters have been used to extract the carrier concentrations and mobility. The carrier concentration increases monotonously with the increase of As fraction and is attributed to the bandgap narrowing effect. The mobility decreases with x, indicating an increased scattering.