A simple method to determine fluorescence emission spectra of proteins in solid state is described. The available commercial accessories can only accommodate solid samples and hence do not allow a direct comparison between fluorescence spectra of a sample in solution and solid state form. Such comparisons are valuable to monitor the changes in protein structure when it is “dried” or immobilized...

Conventional organic fluorophores suffer from poor photo stability, narrow absorption spectra and broad emission spectra. Semiconductor nanocrystals, however, are highly photo-stable with broad absorption spectra and narrow size-tunable emission spectra. Recent advances in the synthesis of these materials have resulted in the generation of bright, sensitive, extremely photo-stable and biocompat...

We discuss the different physical processes that are important to understand the thermal X-ray emission and absorption spectra of the diffuse gas in clusters of galaxies and the warm-hot intergalactic medium. The ionisation balance, line and continuum emission and absorption properties are reviewed and several practical examples are given that illustrate the most important diagnostic features i...