Mechanism of Striation in Dielectric Barrier Discharge

The mechanism of striations in dielectric barrier discharge in pure neon is studied by a two-dimensional particle- in-cell/Monte Carlo collision （PIC-MCC） model. It is shown that the striations appear in the plasma background, and non-uniform electrical field resulting from ionization and the negative wall charge appear on the dielectric layer above the anode. The sustainment of striations is a non-local kinetic effect of electrons in a stratified field controlled by non-elastic impact with neutral gases. The striations in the transient dielectric barrier discharge are similar to those in dc positive column discharge.     

Kinetic Energy of Trapped Ions Cooled by Buffer Gas

The average kinetic energy of 40 Ca＋ ions is measured by the method of evaporating ions in an rf ion trap. The kinetic energy of the ion 40Ca＋ varies from 0.5eV to 0.2eV with changing buffer gas pressure from 10^-7 mbar to 10^-5 mbar. The Brownian motion model is also introduced to calculate the average kinetic energy of the trapped ions.     

Study on the transition from filamentary discharge to diffuse discharge by using a dielectric barrier surface discharge device

Discharge characteristics have been investigated in different gases under different pressures using a dielectric barrier surface discharge device. Electrical measurements and optical emission spectroscopy are used to study the discharge, and the results obtained show that the discharges in atmospheric pressure helium and in low-pressure air are diffuse, while that in high-pressure air is filamentary. With decreasing pressure, the discharge in air can transit from filamentary to diffuse one. The results also indicate that corona discharge around the stripe electrode is important for the diffuse discharge. The spectral intensity of N电介质 表面放电 扩散放电 发射光谱学dielectric barrier surface discharge, diffuse discharge, optical emission spectroscopyProject supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos 10575027 and 10647123), the National Science Foundation of Hebei Province, China (Grant No A2007000134), the Education Department of Hebei Province, China (Grant No 2006106),2006-10-24Discharge characteristics have been investigated in different gases under different pressures using a dielectric barrier surface discharge device. Electrical measurements and optical emission spectroscopy are used to study the discharge, and the results obtained show that the discharges in atmospheric pressure helium and in low-pressure air are diffuse, while that in high-pressure air is filamentary. With decreasing pressure, the discharge in air can transit from filamentary to diffuse one. The results also indicate that corona discharge around the stripe electrode is important for the diffuse discharge. The spectral intensity of N＋ （391.4nm） relative to N2 （337.1 nm） is measured during the transition from diffuse to filamentary discharge. It is shown that relative spectral intensity increases during the discharge transition. This phenomenon implies that the averaged electron energy in diffuse discharge is higher than that in the filamentary discharge.     

Diagnosis of Methane Plasma Generated in an Atmospheric Pressure DBD Micro-Jet by Optical Emission Spectroscopy

Diagnosis of methane plasma, generated in an atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge （DBD） microplasma jet with a quartz tube as dielectric material by a 25 kHz sinusoidal ac power source, is conducted by optical emission spectroscopy （OES）. The reactive radicals in methane plasma such as CH, C2, and Ha are detected insitu by OES. The possible dissociation mechanism of methane in diluted Ar plasma is deduced from spectra. In addition, the density of CH radical, which is considered as one of the precursors in diamond-like （DLC） film formation, affected by the parameters of input voltage and the feed gas flow rate, is emphasized. With the Boltzmann plots, four Ar atomic spectral lines （located at 675.28nm, 687.13nm, 738.40nm and 794.82nm, respectively） are chosen to calculate the electron temperature, and the dependence of electron temperature on discharge parameters is also investigated.     

First principles study on Mn-doped LiFePO4 as cathode material for rechargeable lithium batteries

The electronic structure and diffusion energy barriers of Li ions in pure and Mn-doped LiFePO4 have been studied using density functional theory （DFT）. The results demonstrate clearly that Fe - O covalent bond is weaker than P- O covalent bond. Pure LiFePO4 has band gap of 0.56 eV and diffusion energy barrier of 2.57 eV for Li ions, while the dopant has small band gap of 0.25 eV and low diffusion energy barrier of 2.31 eV, which indicates that the electronic and ionic conductivity of LiFePO4 have been improved owing to doping.     

L-Shell X-Ray Yields and Production Cross Sections of Zr and Mo Bombarded by Slow Highly Charged Ar16+ Ions

The L-shell x-ray yields of Zr and Mo bombarded by slow Ar16＋ ions are measured. The energy of the Ar^16＋ ions ranges from about 150 keV to 350 keV. The L-shell x-ray production cross sections of Zr and Mo are extracted from these yields data. The explanation of these experimental results is in the framework of the adiabatic direct- ionization and the binding energy modified BEA approximation. We consider, in the slow asymmetric collisions such as Ar and Mo/Zr, the transient united atoms （UA） are formed during the ion-surface interaction and the direct-ionization is the main mechanism for the inner-shell vacancy production. Generally, the theoretical results are in good agreement with the experimental data.     

Transport of ions through a （6,6） carbon nanotube under electric fields

The transport of water and ions through carbon nanotubes （CNTs） is crucial in nanotechnology and biotechnology. Previous investigation indicated that the ions can hardly pass through （6,6） CNTs due to their hydrated shells. In the present study, utilizing molecular dynamics simulation, it is shown that the energy barrier mainly originating from the hydrated water molecules could be overcome by applying an electric field large enough in the CNT axis direction. Potential of mean force is calculated to show the reduction of energy barrier when the electric field is present for （Na＋, K＋, C1 ） ions. Consequently, ionic flux through （6,6） CNTs can be found once the electric field becomes larger than a threshold value. The variation of the coordination numbers of ions at different locations from the bulk to the center of the CNT is also explored to elaborate this dynamic process. The thresholds of the electric field are different for Na＋, K＋, and CI- due to their characteristics. This consequence might be potentially applied in ion selectivity in the future.     

Numerical studies of atmospheric pressure glow discharge controlled by a dielectric barrier between two coaxial electrodes

The glow discharge in pure helium at atmospheric pressure, controlled by a dielectric barrier between coaxial electrodes, is investigated based on a one-dimensional self-consistent fluid model. By solving the continuity equations for electrons, ions, and excited atoms, with the current conservation equation and the electric field profile, the time evolution of the discharge current, gas voltage and the surface density of charged particles on the dielectric barrier are calculated. The simulation results show that the peak values of the discharge current, gas voltage and electric field in the first half period are asymmetric to the second half. When the current reaches its positive or negative maximum, the electric field profile, and the electron and ion densities represent similar properties to the typical glow discharge at low pressures. Obviously there exist a cathode fall, a negative glow region, and a positive column. Effects of the barrier position in between the two coaxial electrodes and the discharge gap width on discharge current characteristics are also analysed. The result indicates that, in the case when the dielectric covering the outer electrode only, the gas is punctured earlier during the former half period and later during the latter half period than other cases, also the current peak value is higher, and the difference of pulse width between the two half periods is more obvious. On reducing the gap width, the multiple current pulse discharge happens.     

Two Electron Transfer and Stabilization in Slow O^6＋ and Rare-Gas Collisions

The stabilization ratios R for double-electron transfer, i.e., the cross section ratios of true double capture to total double-electron transfer, are measured in O^6＋ ＋He, Ne and Ar collisions at 6 keV/u. A high R value about 68% is obtained for the He target, while for the Ar target, the R value is only 8%. The high R value for the He target is due to the significant direct population of the （2l, nl′ ） configurations with high n. For the Ar target, the （quasi）symmetric configurations （3l, nl′） lead to the much lower R value. Neglecting the core effects, the O^6＋ ion can be taken as a bare ion C^6＋ except the occupied ls shell, and then the measured R values are compared with previous experimental results of C^6＋ projectile ions at Ne and Ar target, while the occupied ls shell for the C^6＋ ＋He collisions. similar impact velocity. It yields good agreement with the O^6＋ ＋He system results in a higher R value than that in     

Calculation of ion energy distributions of argon excimer ions generated in helicon plasma

A program is developed to calculate the ion energy distributions （IEDs） of Ar2^＋ making use of a simplified kinetic model with a combination of Monte Carlo method. Several coefficients are used to realize good match between the calculated and measured results. Some important assumptions are confirmed： argon excimer ions have short lifetime, hence they are formed in a short range before the collecting electrode. The excimer ions that encounter collisions will be discarded because they turn to other ion species after they collide with argon atoms. From the calculated results some plasma parameters such as the cross section or neutral density in discharge could be evaluated.     

Ground state for CH2 and symmetry for methane decomposition

Using the different level of methods B3P86, BLYP, B3PW91, HF, QCISD、 CASSCF （4,4） and MP2 with the various basis functions 6-311G^＊＊, D95, cc-pVTZ and DGDZVP, the calculations of this paper confirm that the ground state is X^-3B1 with C2v group for CH2. Furthermore, the three kinds of theoretical methods, i.e. B3P86、 CCSD（T, MP4） and G2 with the same basis set cc-pVTZ only are used to recalculate the zero-point energy revision which are modified by scaling factor 0.989 for the high level based on the virial theorem, and also with the correction for basis set superposition error. These results are also contrary to X^-3∑^-g for the ground state of CH2 in reference. Based on the atomic and molecular reaction statics, this paper proves that the decomposition type （1） i.e. CH4 →CH2＋H2, is forbidden and the decomposition type （2） i.e. CH4→CHa＋H is allowed for CH4. This is similar to the decomposition of SiH4.     

Mutual recombination in slow Si^＋ ＋ H^- collisions

This paper studies the process of mutual neutralization of Si^＋ and H^- ions in slow collisions within the multichannel Landau-Zener model. All important ionic-covalent couplings in this collision system are included in the collision dynamics. The cross sections for population of specific final states of product Si atom are calculated in the CM energy range 0.05 e∨/u-5 ke∨/u. Both singlet and triplet states are considered. At collision energies below -10 e∨/u, the most populated singlet state is Si（3p4p, ^1S0）, while for energies above -150e∨/u it is the Si（3p, 4p, ^1P1） state. In the case of triplet states, the mixed 3p4p（^3S1 ＋^3P0） states are the most populated in the entire collision energy range investigated. The total cross section exhibits a broad maximum around 200 300e∨/u and for ECM ≤ 10e∨/u it monotonically increases with decreasing the collision energy, reaching a value of 8 × 10^-13 cm^2 at ECM = 0.05 e∨/u. The ion-pair formation process in Si（3p^2 ^3PJ）＋H（1s） collisions has also been considered and its cross section in the considered energy range is very small （smaller than 10^-20 cm^2 in the energy region below 1 ke∨/u）.     

Electron tunnelling phase time and dwell time through an associated delta potential barrier

The electron tunnelling phase time τP and dwell time τD through an associated delta potential barrier U(x) = ξδ(x) are calculated and both are in the order of 10^-17～10^-16s. The results show that the dependence of the phase time on the delta barrier parameter ξ can be described by the characteristic length lc = h^2/meξ and the characteristic energy Ec=meξ^2/h^2 of the delta barrier, where me is the electron mass, lc and Ec are assumed to be the effective width and height of the delta barrier with lcEc=ξ, respectively. It is found that TD reaches its maximum and τD = τp as the energy of the tunnelling electron is equal to Ec/2, i.e. as lc =λDB, λDB is de Broglie wave length of the electron.     

Thermodynamic criterion for searching high mobility two-dimensional electron gas at KTaO_3 interface

Two-dimensional electron gases(2 DEGs) formed at the interface between two oxide insulators present a promising platform for the exploration of emergent phenomena.While most of the previous works focused on SrTiO_(3-)based 2 DEGs,here we took the amorphous-ABO_3/KTaO_3 system as the research object to study the relationship between the interface conductivity and the redox property of B-site metal in the amorphous film.The criterion of oxide-oxide interface redox reactions for the B-site metals,Zr,Al,Ti,Ta,and Nb in conductive interfaces was revealed:the formation heat of metal oxide,ⅢH_f~o,is lower than-350 kJ/(mol O) and the work function of the metal Φ is in the range of 3.75 eVΦ 4.4 eV.Furthermore,we found that the smaller absolute value of ⅢH_f~o and the larger value of Φ of the B-site metal would result in higher mobility of the two-dimensional electron gas that formed at the corresponding amorphous-ABO_3/KTaO_3 interface.This finding paves the way for the design of high-mobility all-oxide electronic devices.     

The dissociation pathways of N2+ in intense femtosecond laser fields

Using a neutral N2 beam as target,this paper studies the dissociation of N2+ in intense femtosecond laser fields(45 fs,～1×10 16 W/cm 2) at the laser wavelength of 800 nm based on the time-of-flight mass spectra of N + fragment ions.The angular distributions of N+ and the laser power dependence of N + yielded from different dissociation pathways show that the dissociation mechanisms mainly proceed through the couplings between the metastable states(A,B and C) and the upper excited states of N2+.A coupling model of light-dressed potential energy curves of N+2 is used to interpret the kinetic energy release of N+.     

Novel material for nonvolatile ovonic unified memory (OUM)－Ag11In12Te26Sb51 phase change semiconductor

In this paper, Ag_{11}In_{12}Te_{26}Sb_{51} phase change semiconductor films have been prepared by dc sputtering. The crystallization behaviour of amorphous Ag_{11}In_{12}Te_{26}Sb_{51} thin films was investigated by using differential scanning calorimetry and x-ray diffraction. It was found that the crystallization temperature is about 483K and the melting temperature is 754.8K and the activation energy for crystallization, E_a, is 2.07eV. The crystalline Ag_{11}In_{12}Te_{26}Sb_{51} films were obtained using initializer. The initialization conditions have a great effect on the sheet resistance of Ag_{11}In_{12}Te_{26}Sb_{51} films. We found that the effect of the initialization condition on the sheet resistance can be ascribed to the crystallinity of Ag_{11}In_{12}Te_{26}Sb_{51} films. The sheet resistance of the amorphous (R_{amo}) film is found to be larger than 1×10^6Ω and that of the crystalline (R_{cry}) film lies in the range from about 10^3 to 10^4Ω. So we have the ratio R_{amo}/R_{cry}=10^2～10^3, which is sufficiently large for application in memory devices.     

Cluster-assisted generation of multicharged ions in nanosecond laser ionization of carbon bisulfide clusters at 1064nm

The photoionization of seeded carbon bisulfide molecular beam by a 1064\,nm nanosecond Nd-YAG laser with intensities varying from $0.8\times10^{11}$ to $5.6\times10^{11}$\,W/cm$^{2}$ have been studied by time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Multiply charged ions of S$^{q + }$ ($q$ = 2--6) and C$^{q +}$ ($q$ = 2--4) with kinetic energy of hundreds of electron volts have been observed, and there are strong experimental evidences indicating that those multicharged ions originate from the ionization of CS$_{2}$ neat clusters in the beam. An electron recolliding ionization model is proposed to explain the appearance of those multiply charged atomic ions under such low laser intensities.     

Impacts of dark energy on constraining neutrino mass after Planck 2018

Considering the mass splittings of three active neutrinos, we investigate how the properties of dark energy affect the cosmological constraints on the total neutrino mass $\sum {m}_{\nu }$ using the latest cosmological observations. In this paper, several typical dark energy models, including ΛCDM, wCDM, CPL, and HDE models, are discussed. In the analysis, we also consider the effects from the neutrino mass hierarchies, i.e. the degenerate hierarchy (DH), the normal hierarchy (NH), and the inverted hierarchy (IH). We employ the current cosmological observations to do the analysis, including the Planck 2018 temperature and polarization power spectra, the baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO), the type Ia supernovae (SNe), and the Hubble constant H₀ measurement. In the ΛCDM+$\sum {m}_{\nu }$ model, we obtain the upper limits of the neutrino mass $\sum {m}_{\nu }\lt 0.123\,\mathrm{eV}$ (DH), $\sum {m}_{\nu }\lt 0.156\,\mathrm{eV}$ (NH), and $\sum {m}_{\nu }\lt 0.185\,\mathrm{eV}$ (IH) at the 95% C.L., using the Planck+BAO+SNe data combination. For the wCDM+$\sum {m}_{\nu }$ model and the CPL+$\sum {m}_{\nu }$ model, larger upper limits of $\sum {m}_{\nu }$ are obtained compared to those of the ΛCDM+$\sum {m}_{\nu }$ model. The most stringent constraint on the neutrino mass, $\sum {m}_{\nu }\lt 0.080\,\mathrm{eV}$ (DH), is derived in the HDE+$\sum {m}_{\nu }$ model. In addition, we find that the inclusion of the local measurement of the Hubble constant in the data combination leads to tighter constraints on the total neutrino mass in all these dark energy models.     

Observational constraints on the accelerating universe in the framework of a 5D bounce cosmological model

In the framework of a five-dimensional (5D) bounce cosmological model, a useful function f(z) is obtained by giving a concrete expression of deceleration parameter q(z)=q₁+{q₂}/{1+ln (1+ z)}. Then using the obtained Hubble parameter H(z) according to the function f(z), we constrain the accelerating universe from recent cosmic observations: the 192 ESSENCE SNe Ia and the 9 observational H(z) data. The best fitting values of transition redshift z_T and current deceleration parameter q₀ are given as z_T= 0.65_-0.12^0.25 and q₀ = - 0.76_-0.15^+0.15 (1σ). Furthermore, in the 5D bounce model it can be seen that the evolution of equation of state (EOS) for dark energy w_de can cross over -1 at about z=0.23 and the current value w_0de= - 1.15<- 1. On the other hand, by giving a concrete expression of model-independent EOS of dark energy w_de, in the 5D bounce model we obtain the best fitting values z_T= 0.66_0.08^+0.11 and q₀ = - 0.69_0.10^+0.10 (1σ) from the recently observed data: the 192 ESSENCE SNe Ia, the observational H(z) data, the 3-year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) baryon acoustic peak and the x-ray gas mass fraction in clusters.