Abstract.We have obtained high resolution (R = 10 000) K-band spectra of candidate young massive stars deeply embedded in (ultra-) compact H  regions (UCHIIs). These objects were selected from a near-infrared survey of 44 fields centered on IRAS sources with UCHII colours. Often, the near-infrared counterpart of the IRAS source is a young embedded cluster hosting massive stars. In these clusters, three types of objects are identified. The first type (38 objects) consists of "naked" OB stars whose K-band spectra are dominated by photospheric emission. We classify the K-band spectra of the OB-type cluster members using near-infrared classification criteria. A few of them have a very early (O3-O4 V) spectral type, consistent with a young age of the embedded clusters. The spectral classification provides an important constraint on the distance to the embedded cluster. The ionising power of the population thus derived is compared to the information obtained from the infrared and radio flux of these sources. In most cases these two different determinations of the ionising flux are consistent, from which we conclude that we have identified the ionising star(s) in about 50% of the embedded clusters. The second type (7 objects) are point sources associated with UCHII radio emission, that exhibit nebular emission lines in the near-infrared. Six of the objects in this group produce He  emission indicative of an embedded O-type star. These objects are more embedded than the OB stars and probably do not dominate the infrared flux as measured by IRAS. They may emit the bulk of their reprocessed UV radiation at mm wavelengths. The third type (20 objects) is characterised by broad (100−200 km s −1 ) Brγ emission and no photospheric absorption profiles. Bik et al. (2005, A&A, submitted) show that these objects are massive YSO candidates surrounded by dense circumstellar disks.

The effect of sodium and calcium ions on zwitterionic and anionic phospholipids monolayers is investigated using vibrational sum-frequency generation in conjunction with surface pressure measurements and fluorescence microscopy. Sodium ions only subtly affect the monolayer structure, while the effect of calcium is large and depends strongly on the surface pressure. At low surface pressures (approximately 5 mN/m), the presence on Ca2+ results in the unexpected appearance of ordered domains. For pressures between approximately 5 and approximately 25 mN/m, Ca2+ ions induce disorder in the monolayer. For pressures exceeding 25 mN/m, calcium cations expand the monolayer, while simultaneously ordering the lipid chains. Interestingly, effects are similar for both zwitterionic lipids and negatively charged lipids. In both vibrational sum-frequency generation and surface tension measurements, the molecular signature of the association of Ca2+ with the lipids is evident from Ca2+-induced changes in the signals corresponding to area changes of 4 A2/lipid-precisely the surface area of a Ca2+ ion, with evidence for a change in lipid Ca2+ complexation at high pressures.

We report a femtosecond time-resolved study of water at the neat water-air interface. The O-H stretch vibrational lifetime of hydrogen-bonded interfacial water is measured using surface-specific 4th-order nonlinear optical spectroscopy with femtosecond infrared pulses. The vibrational lifetime in the frequency range of 3200 to 3500 cm(-1) is found to closely resemble that of bulk water, indicating ultrafast exchange of vibrational energy between surface water molecules and those in the bulk.