Laser gain by electron collisional pumping of Ar VII–V XII

Gain coefficients have been calculated for transitions of singlet levels ns–np of orbital n=4 and n=5 in magnesium-like ions with atomic numbers Z=18, 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23. Population inversions for 4p and 5p levels in these ions were also calculated, via electron collisional excitation, for electron temperature range of 93–231 eV and electron density range of 10¹⁶–10¹⁷ cm⁻³. Under these plasma conditions, the maximum gain that occurred for 4s–4p transition was at electron temperature of 231 eV and electron density of 4×10¹⁷ cm⁻³. Scaling of the maximum gain coefficients with atomic number Z and the plasma parameters is also presented.     

Ion beam induced phase transformation in Fe–Mn bilayers: a Mössbauer study

Ion‐beam mixing of Fe–Mn bilayers induced by 100 keV krypton ions in the dose range (0.1-15)×10¹⁵ ions/cm²has been studied by means of conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy and X‐ray diffraction. The results indicate that a dose of about 1 ×10¹⁵ Kr⁺/cm² is sufficient to induce an appreciable mixing between the two atomic species. The α-Fe(Mn)solid solution presents a maximum at this dose, while at higher doses also the ? and γFe–Mn phases are formed in an appreciable amount. Heating of irradiated samples evidences the metastable character of ? phase and favours the growth of the terminal structures γ-Fe(Mn) and α-Mn(Fe) of the Fe–Mn equilibrium phase diagram.     

Chemical cross sections induced by ions in solid organic detectors: Experimentation and simulation

Chemical ester bond scission induced by incoming ions in polyethylene terephthalate (PET), bisphenol A polycarbonate (PC), polyallyl diglycol carbonate (PADC), have been systematically determined by FT-IR transmission measurements. The studied ions (H, He, C, Ne, I, Ar, Fe, Kr, Xe) have LET ranging from 10 to 10 000 keV μm⁻¹. We discuss the opportunity to simulate the experimental chemical cross section obtained with an approach based on the dose deposited by the secondary electrons removed by the incoming ion. Such an approach has been already successfully applied for LR115.     

Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy of germane plasma induced by IR CO2 pulsed laser

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) in germane (GeH₄), initially at room temperature and pressures ranging from 2 to 10 kPa, was studied using a high-power transverse excitation atmospheric (TEA) CO₂ laser (λ=10.653 μm, τ _FWHM=64 ns and power densities ranging from 0.28 to 5.52 GW cm⁻²). The strong emission spectrum of the generated plasma is mainly due to electronic relaxation of excited Ge, H and ionic fragments Ge⁺, Ge²⁺ and Ge³⁺. The weak emission is due to molecular bands of H₂. Excitation temperatures of 8100±300 K and 23,500±2500 K were estimated by Ge atomic and Ge⁺ singly ionized lines, respectively. Electron number densities of the order of (0.7–6.2)×10¹⁷ cm⁻³ were deduced from the Stark broadening of several atomic Ge lines. The characteristics of the spectral emission intensities from different species have been investigated as functions of the germane pressure and laser irradiance. Optical breakdown threshold intensities in germane at 10.653 μm have been determined. The mechanism of initiation of the laser-induced plasma in germane has been analyzed.     

Hardnes and resistivity of amorphous carbon thin films deposited by laser ablation

Amorphous carbon thin films were deposited by laser ablation of a graphite target, using the fundamental line of a 5 ns Nd:YAG laser. Deposition was carried out as a function of the plasma parameters (mean kinetic ion energy and plasma density), determined by means of a planar probe. In the selected working regimes the optical emission from the plasma is mainly due to atomic species, namely C⁺ (426.5 nm); however, there is also emission from other atomic species and molecular carbon. The hardness and resistivity could be varied in the range between 10 and 25 GPa, and 10⁸ and 10¹¹ Ω cm, respectively. The maximum values were obtained at a 200 eV ion energy and 6×10¹³ cm⁻³ plasma density, where the maximum quantity of C–C sp³ bonds was formed, as confirmed by Raman spectroscopy.     

Tantalum ion acceleration in laser‐generated plasma and dependence on the pulse duration

The laser irradiation of tantalum targets is presented for different pulsed laser intensities ranging from 10¹⁰ up to about 10¹⁸ W/cm² and pulse durations from 9 ns up to 40 fs. The results show that the produced non‐equilibrium plasma accelerates Ta ions in the backward direction from values of the order of keV up to values of about 5 MeV. In thin foils, the forward plasma, developed behind the target along the direction of incoming laser, at intensities of about 10¹⁶ W/cm² and 300 ps pulse duration, accelerates Ta ions at energies of the order of 4.6 MeV and produces charge states up to about 40+. For fs lasers at intensities of the order of 10¹⁸ W/cm², only proton acceleration occurs up to 2.1 MeV while no Ta ions are accelerated, due to the reduced duration of the electric field and to the too high inertial mass of the Ta ions.     

New sonochemiluminescence involving solvated electron in Ce(III)/Ce(IV) solutions

The moving single-bubble sonoluminescence of Ce³⁺ in water and ethylene glycol solutions of CeCl₃ and (NH₄)₂Ce(NO₃)₆ was studied. As found, a significant part of intensity of the luminescence (100% with cerium concentration less than 10^–4 M) is due to the sonochemiluminescence. A key reaction of sonochemiluminescence is the Ce⁴⁺ reduction by a solvated (or hydrated in water) electron: Ce⁴⁺ + e_s (e_aq) → *Ce³⁺. Solvated electrons are formed in a solution via electrons ejection from a low-temperature plasma periodically generated in deformable moving bubble at acoustic vibrations. Reactions of heterolytic dissociation of solvents make up the source of electrons in the plasma. In aqueous CeCl₃ solutions, the Ce⁴⁺ ion is formed at the oxidation of Ce³⁺ by OH radical. The latter species originates from homolytic dissociation of water in the plasma of the bubble, also penetrating from the moving bubble into the solution. The sonochemiluminescence in cerium trichloride solutions are quenched by the Br⁻ (acceptor of OH) and H⁺ ions (acceptor of e_aq). In water and ethylene glycol solutions of (NH₄)₂Ce(NO₃)₆, the sonochemiluminescence also quenched by the H⁺ ion. The sonochemiluminescence in CeCl₃ solutions is registered at [Ce³⁺] ≥ 10^–5 M. Then the sonochemiluminescence intensity increases with the cerium ion concentration and reaches the saturation plateau at 10^–2 M. It was shown that sonophotoluminescence (re-emission of light of bubble plasma emitters by cerium ions) also contributes to the luminescence of Ce³⁺ in solutions with [Ce³⁺] ≥ 10^–4 M. If the cerium concentration is more than 10^–2 M, a third source contributes to luminescence, viz., the collisional excitation of Ce³⁺ ions penetrating into the moving bubble.     

Corrosion behavior of tin ions implanted zirconium in 1N H2SO4

In order to study the effect of tin ion implantation on the aqueous corrosion behavior of zirconium, specimens were implanted with tin ions to a fluence ranging from 1 × 10²⁰ to 5 × 10²¹ ions/m², using a metal vapor vacuum arc source (MEVVA) at an extraction voltage of 40 kV. The valence states and depth distributions of elements in the surface layer were analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and auger electron spectroscopy (AES) respectively. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to examine the micro-morphology and microstructure of tin-implanted samples. When the fluence was greater than 1 × 10²⁰ ions/m², many small tin balls were produced in the implanted surface. The potentiodynamic polarization technique was employed to evaluate the aqueous corrosion resistance of implanted zirconium in a 1N H₂SO₄ solution. It was found that a significant improvement was achieved in the aqueous corrosion resistance of zirconium implanted with 1 × 10²⁰ ions/m². When the fluence is higher than 1 × 10²⁰ ions/m², the corrosion resistance of zirconium implanted with tin ions decreased compared with that of the non-implanted zirconium. Finally, the mechanism of the corrosion behavior of the tin-implanted zirconium is discussed.     

Modified structural,morphological and photoelectrochemical properties of 120 MeV Ag9+ ion irradiated BaTiO3 thin films

The effects of high electronic energy deposition on the structure, surface topography, optical property and photoelectrochemical behavior of barium titanate thin (BaTiO₃) films have been investigated by irradiating films with 120 MeV Ag⁹⁺ ions at different ion fluences in the range of 1 × 10¹¹–3 × 10¹² ions cm^?2. Barium titanate thin films were deposited on indium tin oxide-coated glass substrate by sol–gel spin coating method. The structure of the film was crystalline with tetragonal phase. Surface topography was studied by atomic force microscopy detailing the values of roughness of the films. Maximum photocurrent density of 1.78 mA cm^?2 at 0.4 V/SCE and applied bias photon-to-current efficiency (ABPE) of 0.91% was observed for BaTiO₃ film irradiated at 1 × 10¹¹ ions cm^?2.     

Role of neon in a decaying high-purity helium plasma

The evolution of the electron and atomic and molecular metastable densities and the radiation of the decaying plasma of helium with a 10^–5-fraction of neon additive is experimentally studied. A model of elementary processes in He–Ne plasma is constructed, which describes the formation and destruction of HeNe⁺ and Ne₂ ⁺ molecular ions and their contribution to the formation of the afterglow spectrum by the electronion recombination. The various criteria influence of neon on the parameters of the decaying plasma are studied. The possibility of determining the amount of neon in helium by measuring the relative intensities of helium molecular bands and neon spectral lines in the afterglow is considered.     

Effect of neutral pressure on the He plasma flow measurement in a linear device

Axial and azimuthal flow velocities have been measured in a linear plasma device called NAGDIS-II (NAGoya DIvertor Simulator-II), along with plasma density and electron temperature, using a vector Mach probe composed of two Mach probes, one of which is for the axial flow, and the other is for the azimuthal flow. To study the effect of neutral pressure on the deduction of the Mach numbers, the ratio of upstream to downstream currents are measured by changing the neutral pressure for the deduction of flow velocities. Helium plasma was generated with pressure of 2–35 mTorr. Since the ion gyro-radius at the magnetic flux of 300 G is larger than the probe size, an unmagnetized collisionless Mach probe theory was used for the deduction of Mach numbers and their variations. In order to check the range of collisionality, plasma density (n_e = 10¹⁰–10¹¹ cm^?3) and electron temperature (T_e = 2–9 eV) are measured by a single electric probe using a conventional collisionless probe theory. Variations of Mach number, electron temperature and plasma density with collisionless models are to be compared with those using collisional models for different pressures where ionization and ion-neutral collision are included. Mach numbers by the collisionless model are found to be overestimated by 120% for the maximum difference even in weakly collisional plasmas. A clear flow reversal exists in the axial direction with higher pressure plasma, even in the linear machine. Azimuthal flows are also measured simultaneously along with axial flows, yet they seem to be very small in the present cold ion plasma (T_i/T_e << 1).     

Spectroscopic measurements and electrical diagnostics of microhollow cathode discharges in argon flow at atmospheric pressure

This paper is dedicated to the study of the electrical and optical characteristics of direct current microhollow cathode discharges (MHCD) in argon flow. Experiments have been carried out in order to determine the so-called Paschen’s curves in a static open MHCD. Current-voltage characteristics were obtained as a function of the pressure and hole diameter. MHCD enable stable direct current discharge operation, which could be ignited for pressures ranging from 12 to 800 Torr, in a very wide range of current densities and electrodes materials. Optical emission spectroscopy and analysis of the spectral line broadening of plasma line emissions were performed in order to measure parameters such as electron number density (2–4 × 10¹⁴ cm^-3)^{-3}), gas temperature (460–640 K), excitation temperature (~ 7000 K) and electron temperature (~ 8500 K), for current ranging from 7 to 15 mA. Lower gas temperature was measured compared to the static MHCD ones.     

Modification of Zinc-Implanted Silicon by Swift Xenon Ion Irradiation

50 keV ⁶⁴Zn⁺ ions to a dose of 5 × 10¹⁶ cm^–2 are implanted into substrates of single-crystal n-type silicon. Then the samples are irradiated at room temperature with 167 MeV ¹³²Xe²⁶⁺ ions with a fluence ranging from 1 ×10¹² up to 5 × 10¹⁴ cm^–2. Changes in the structure and properties on the sample surface and in its body are studied by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive microanalysis, atomic force microscopy, time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry, and photoluminescence.     

Growth,structural, mechanical,spectral and dielectric characterization of NaCl-added Triglycine sulfate single crystals

Pure and sodium chloride (NaCl)-added Triglycine sulfate (TGS) crystals were grown from aqueous solutions by slow evaporation technique. The values of concentration of dopants in the mother solution were 0.2, 0.6 and 1 mol%. The solubility of the grown samples have been found out at various temperatures. The determination of unit cell parameters was carried out by single crystal XRD method and found that the grown crystals crystallize in monoclinic structure. The dielectric characterization for the pure and NaCl-doped TGS crystals was performed by measuring the dielectric parameters like dielectric constant and dielectric loss with various frequencies in the range 10²–10⁶ Hz and with the temperatures ranging from 30 to 70 °C and this study reveals an increase of dielectric constant and loss with the increase of NaCl concentration. Studies on mechanical properties like microhardness and density of the grown pure and NaCl-doped TGS crystals were carried out. UV–Visible transmittance studies were carried out for the grown samples. A sharp fall in the transmittance is observed at 228 nm for pure and NaCl-doped TGS crystals. Atomic absorption spectroscopic (AAS) study was done on the NaCl-doped TGS crystals to ascertain the presence of Na⁺ ions in the lattice.     

Level shifts and inelastic electron scattering in dense plasmas

A completely quantum mechanical formalism has been developed to describe the high density plasma effects on fundamental atomic parameters. Both the bound and free electrons are treated by a method which in principle is similar to Hartree's self-consistent field method. The free plasma electrons' wavefunction is obtained from the Schrödinger equation with the effective pottential representing the spherically averaged Coulomb interaction with bound and free electrons. Results are given for level shifts, coefficients of transition probabilities, and electron collision cross sections of Ne⁺⁹ for temperatures of 200 and 500 eV for an electron density range of 1–6 × 10²⁴ cm^?3.     

Temperature and density spectroscopic measurements in different laser-generated plasmas

A pulsed Nd:Yag laser, at intensities of the order of 10¹⁰ W/cm², is employed to irradiate different thick metallic targets (Ti, Fe, Ag, and Ni) placed in vacuum. The obtained non-equilibrium plasmas are investigated with various analytical techniques. An electrostatic ion energy analyzer and different ion collectors are employed to monitor in situ the ions ejected from the plasma and to determine the core plasma temperature, the ion energy distributions and the ion angular emission. An optical spectrometer is employed to analyze the plasma corona emitted light vs. wavelength and to identify the emitted characteristic lines. The optical spectroscopy permitted to evaluate the electron temperatures and densities. Results show strong temperature and density gradients occurring in the laser-generated plasma plume.     

Path integral approach for Stark broadening of Lyman lines in hydrogen plasma

New results for Lyman lines from hydrogen plasmas are presented using the path integral approach. The influence of plasma components (electrons and ions) on the radiator is analysed separately. The ionic contribution is treated within the path integral approach, while the electronic contribution is estimated by the standard collision operator. The Stark effect, including the ion quadrupole contribution, is considered. The time‐dependent ionic microfield is treated within the path integral approximation using the model microfield method (MMM). The comparison with the quantum statistical approach is performed using a wide range of temperatures (T = 10⁴–10⁷ K) and electron densities (N_e = 10²³–10²⁶ m^?3). Good agreement is mainly obtained for low density and high temperature.     

The SMILETRAP (Stockholm-Mainz-Ion-LEvitation-TRAP) facility

Described in this paper is an experimental facility which measures atomic masses by using multiply charged ions from an electron beam ion source. The ions are injected into a Penning trap and the cyclotron frequencies measured. A precision of 2×10^–9 has been reached using highly charged carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and neon.     

Absolute density measurement of hydrogen atom in inductively coupled Ar/H2 plasmas using vacuum ultraviolet absorption spectroscopy

The absolute density measurement of atomic species such as hydrogen is crucial for plasma processing because of their strong chemical reactivity. In this work, to measure the hydrogen atom density in Ar/H₂ inductively coupled plasmas (ICP), the self-absorption-applied vacuum ultraviolet absorption spectroscopy (VUVAS) is studied with a micro-hollow cathode H₂/He discharge lamp (MHCL) emitting VUV light (Lyman alpha line; L_α 121.56 nm). The absolute density of hydrogen atoms in the ICP is investigated for various powers (50 W–850 W) in the low pressure region (30 mTorr–50 mTorr). The hydrogen density in remote plasma region is shown to vary from 2.1 × 10¹¹ cm⁻³ to 1.25 × 10¹² cm⁻³ with respect to plasma power.     

Plasma plume induced during laser ablation of graphite

The plasma plume induced during ArF laser ablation of a graphite target is studied. Velocities of the plasma expansion front are determined by the optical time of flight method. Mass center velocities of the emitting atoms and ions are constant and amount to 1.7×10⁴ and 3.8×10⁴ m s⁻¹, respectively. Higher velocities of ions result probably from their acceleration in electrostatic field created by electron emission prior to ion emission. The emission spectroscopy of the plasma plume is used to determine the electron densities and temperatures at various distances from the target. The electron density is determined from the Stark broadening of the Ca II and Ca I lines. It reaches a maximum of ∼9.5×10²³ m⁻³ 30 ns from the beginning of the laser pulse at the distance of 1.2 mm from the target and next decreases to ∼1.2×10²² m⁻³ at the distance of 7.6 mm from the target. The electron temperature is determined from the ratio of intensities of ionic and atomic lines. Close to the target the electron temperature of ∼30 kK is found but it decreases quickly to 11.5 kK 4 mm from the target.