Development and application of the intense slow positron beam at IHEP

This paper describes the development and application of an intense slow positron beam at IHEP with regard to its two main components.The Variable-Energy Positron Lifetime Spectroscopy (VEPLS) based on the pulsing system consisting of a chopper,a prebuncher and a buncher has been constructed in order to meet the needs of materials science development.At present,the time resolution of the VEPLS can easily reach about 386 ps with a peak-to-background ratio of about 600:1.A plugged-in 22Na positron source section for adjusting the newly built experimental station and for increasing the beam operation efficiency has been constructed.A slow positron beam with an intensity of 2.5x105 e+/s and the beam profile whose diameter is 10 mm has been obtained;the moderation efficiency of the tungsten mesh moderator reaches 5.1x 10-4 as calculated with an original positron source activity of 52 mCi.     

A technique for positron spectroscopy of monovacancies formed by low-temperature ion implantation of silicon

A system for positron beam-based Doppler broadening spectroscopy of the formation and evolution of monovacancy defects in silicon is described. The apparatus allows in situ ion implantation at low temperatures (∼50 K) followed by positron beam assay. First measurements for 6 keV He implantation, at post-implant temperatures between 60 and 300 K are presented. Benefits and drawbacks of this system are discussed.     

研究堆慢正电子源构建中的关键机理问题

研究堆慢正电子源是获得高强度慢正电子束流的有效方式,国际上己建成多座装置并获得广泛应用.与常规同位素慢正电子源相比,研究堆慢正电子源的物理过程复杂,影响末端束流强度的因素众多,对其进行深入研究与合理建模是未来在中国绵阳研究堆(CMRR)上构建慢正电子源的基础.本文厘清了研究堆慢正电子产生的关键过程与物理机理,建立了预测末端正电子束流强度的理论模型,找到了影响其末端强度的主要物理量:快正电子体产生率、慢化体有效表面积、慢化体扩散距离、慢正电子从表面被提取到靶环末端的效率、及束流系统提取效率.用多种实验结果对模型进行校验,包括多个同位素慢正电子源的效率测量值,以及PULSTAR研究堆慢正电子源测量结果,充分验证了模型正确性.根据模型对各物理量的影响因素进行了分析,找到了需着重关注的影响因素,对未来源/靶结构的设计给出建议.     

A positron remoderator for the high intensity positron source NEPOMUC

A remoderator for the high intensity positron source NEPOMUC was developed and installed at the beam facility. A beam of remoderated positrons could be produced with different energies and a diameter of less than 2 mm was obtained. The efficiency of the remoderation setup was determined to be 5%. Due to the brilliance of the remoderated beam, the measurements at the coincidence Doppler broadening spectrometer (CDBS) and at the positron annihilation induced Auger electron spectrometer (PAES) could be improved. The setup and functionality of the remoderation device is presented as well as the first measurements at the remoderator, CDBS and PAES.     

First positron experiments at NEPOMUC

The in-pile positron source NEutron induced POsitron source MUniCh (NEPOMUC) of the new Munich research reactor FRM-II is now operated at the nominal reactor power of 20 MW. Recently, intensity and positron beam profile measurements were performed at 30 eV and 1 keV, respectively. For this purpose, NaI-scintillators detect the 511 keV γ-radiation of positrons that annihilate at a removable target in the beam line. The beam profile is determined with a micro-channel plate detector and a CCD-camera. In the present arrangement of NEPOMUC's instrumentation the positron beam is connected to a coincident Doppler broadening (CDB) facility and to a positron induced Auger electron spectroscopy (PAES) analysis chamber. First experiments were carried out in order to show the performance of these new spectrometers. An overview of the positron beam facility is given and first experimental results of PAES are presented.     

北京慢正电子强束流运行性能测试

慢正电子强束流采用高能脉冲电子束流轰击金属钽靶, 以产生正负电子对的方式提供正电子, 作为慢正电子束流方法学研究和薄膜材料缺陷研究的束流基础. 本文是在该装置实现运行后, 对慢正电子束流的强度、能散、形貌等运行性能的测试工作的介绍, 以及慢正电子湮没多普勒测量系统的调试和标准样品的测量结果.     

Construction and timing system of the EPOS beam system

The Forschungszentrum Dresden-Rossendorf provides an intense pulsed 40 MeV electron beam with high brilliance and low emittance (ELBE). The pulse has a length of 1-10 ps and a repetition time of 77 ns, or in slow mode 616 ns. The EPOS system (ELBE Positron Source) generates by pair production on a tungsten converter and a tungsten moderator an intense pulsed beam of mono-energetic positrons. To transport the positrons to the laboratory (12 m) we constructed a magnetic beam guidance system with a longitudinal magnetic field of 75 G. In the laboratory outside the cave, the positron beam is chopped and bunched according to the time structure, because the very sharp bunch structure of the electron pulses is broadened for the positron beam due to transport and moderation.     

Annealing studies of Ti/Al multilayer film by slow positron beam

Single detector and coincidence Doppler broadening (CDB) spectroscopy measurements using slow positron beam were carried out to study as-deposited and annealed Ti/Al multilayer films. The changes of the film structure and defects in each layer by heat treatment have been investigated through the analysis of Doppler broadening lineshape variation. The coincidence Doppler broadening measurements revealed that Ti is the dominant diffusion species during the alloying process of Ti/Al by high temperature annealing. These results highlight the potential of slow positron beam in characterizing the vacancy-type defects evolution and mechanism of interlayer diffusion in Ti/Al multilayer film.     

Spin-polarization of an electro-static positron beam

We constructed an electro-static positron beam apparatus. We fabricated a simple spin-polarimeter composed of a permanent magnet with a surface magnetic field of 0.65 T and an iron pole piece. The longitudinal spin-polarization of the positron beam was determined to be 0.3 by analyzing the magnetic field dependence of the Doppler broadening of annihilation radiation from a fused silica specimen. The effect of spin rotation was examined using an iron poly-crystal and a simple E × B filter.     

Mesoporosity in silica films studied by a slow positron beam and ellipsometry

Porous silica films were synthesized via a sol–gel method using a nonionic amphiphilic triblock copolymer F127 as the structural template. Mesoporosities of the prepared silica films were investigated by Doppler broadening of positron annihilation radiation (DBAR) spectroscopy, positron annihilation gamma-ray energy spectroscopy based on a slow positron beam, and ellipsometry. For the mesoporous silica films, the variation of positron annihilation line shape parameter reveals that the porosity of the silica films increases with loading more F127, which is also confirmed by a decrease of refractive index n. Little variation in positron 3γ-annihilation fraction is found for the silica films prepared with F127 loading less than 15 wt%, whereas a remarkable increment is seen for the films with higher loading. This indicates the pore percolation in porous silica films occurs around a loading of F127 with 15 wt%.     

正电子慢化体的研究和进展

正电子湮没技术是一种研究材料的微观缺陷和相变的灵敏工具,在通常的正电子谱仪中,正电子能量为MeV量级,在样品中注入深度比较学（－100μm）,主要研究材料体内的平均缺陷密度,慢正电子束方法把正电子的能量降低为keV量级（而且可以调节）,注入比较浅（－μm）,所以是研究表面缺陷的探测手段,正电子慢化体是产生慢正电子的关键设备,对其研究有重要意义,文章综述了慢化体研究的历史和现状,从物理概念出发介绍使正电子慢化的四种可能方法和当今慢化体的五种几何排列方法,其中应用最广泛的是钨慢化体和百叶窗式的排列方式,效率最高的是惰性气体固体慢化体,而加电场慢化体是有待开发的高效慢化体。     

Testing of a cryogenic source of slow monochromatic positrons

The results of testing a cryogenic source of slow monochromatic positrons based on the ²²Na isotope, designed and constructed at JINR, are presented. A solid neon moderator was used to generate a monochromatic beam from the continuous β⁺ spectrum of 0–0.5 MeV, with solid neon being frozen to the base layer, which is cooled to the temperature of 5–7 K. Test source of the ²²Na isotope allows the forming of a slow positron beam of intensity 5.8 × 10³ part./s and the average energy 1.2 eV at a spectrum width of 1 eV. The efficiency of moderation is 1% of the total positron flux.     

GaN-a new material for positron moderation

GaN with its wide bandgap might be of interest as a positron moderation material in much the same way as SiC is. To investigate this, positron beam experiments have been performed to establish the diffusion behaviour and surface branching of positrons implanted with energies varying from 0 to 25 keV into an epitaxially grown layer of semi-insulating GaN on a sapphire substrate. The measured diffusion length of the positrons amounted to 19.3 ± 1.4 nm. The surface branching ratios were as follows: 48% positron emission, 12% positronium formation and 40% trapping at the surface. The positron workfunction was shown to be negative with a value of 2.4 ± 0.3 eV. The materials feasibility for positron moderation and its possible use in field assisted moderation is discussed.     

Application of positron beams to the study of positronium-forming solids

Doppler broadening of annihilation radiation (DBAR) and positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) have been successfully applied to the study of positronium (Ps)—forming amorphous solids such as polymers and silicon oxide in the bulk. Implementing depth selectivity to DBAR and PALS by combining them with variable-energy positron beams considerably broadens their applicability. Variation of incident positron energy over a wide range enables depth-profiling, whereas tuning of the beam energy enables the studies of surfaces, interfaces and thin films. In this paper, we discuss fundamentals and applications of energy variable DBAR and PALS for Ps—forming polymers and silicon oxide.     

Tunable monoenergy positron annihilation spectroscopy of polyethylene glycol thin films

Doppler broadening and coincidence Doppler broadening of annihilation radiation experiments have been performed in three kinds of polyethylene glycol(PEG) membrane formed with different average molecular weight using the tunable monoenergy slow positron probe as a function of implantion energy. The obtained positron annihilation parameters are interpreted from two aspects: surface effect and differences in micro-structure or chemical environment of positron annihilation. The experimental results show that the regulation of densification of PEG molecular packing and distribution uniformity from the near surface layer to the bulk region in the film forming process can be well realized by changing its molecular weight. Combining a variable monoenergetic slow positron beam and these two positron annihilation spectroscopy methods is a powerful tool to study positron annihilation characteristics and for polymeric thin-film fine structure analysis.     

Performance of a slow positron beam using a hybrid lens design

The University of Hong Kong positron beam employs conventional magnetic field transport to the target, but has a special hybrid lens design around the positron moderator that allows the beam to be focused to millimeter spot sizes at the target. The good focusing capabilities of the beam are made possible by extracting work-function positrons from the moderator in a magnetic field free region using a conventional Soa lens thus minimizing beam canonical angular momentum. An Einzel lens is used to focus the positrons into the magnetic funnel at the end of transportation magnetic field while at the same time bringing up the beam energy to the intermediate value of 7.5 keV. The beam is E × B filtered at this intermediate energy. The final beam energy is obtained by floating the Soa-Einzel system, E × B filter and flight tube, and accelerating the positrons just before the target. External beam steering saddle coils fine tune the position, and the magnetic field around the target chamber is adjusted so as to keep one of the beam foci always on the target. The system is fully computer controlled. Variable energy-Doppler broadened annihilation radiation (VEDBAR) data for a GaN sample are shown which demonstrate the performance of the positron beam system.     

用于分子束外延的慢正电子束在线分析系统

本文系统地介绍用于分子束外延的慢正电子束在线分析系统的设计与研制,提出用慢正电子束技术在线研究半导体薄膜的分析方法,在正电子慢化器中采用多钨环加百叶窗组合结构,得到较高的快-慢正电子转换效率。 关键词：     

正电子迁移率的测量

综述了半导体在金刚石中的正电子迁移率的６种不同测量方法（角关联方法，多普勒方法，寿命谱方法，注入剖面法，扩散常数法和慢正电子法），给出了自１９５７年以来国内外的所有测量数据，并对数据进行了综合分析。     

Polymeric membrane studied using slow positron beam

A radioisotope slow positron beam has been built at the Chung Yuan Christian University in Taiwan for the research and development in membrane science and technology. Doppler broadening energy spectra and positron annihilation lifetime have been measured as a function of positron energy up to 30 keV in a polyamide membrane prepared by the interfacial polymerization between triethylenetetraamine (TETA) and trimesoyl chloride (TMC) on modified porous polyacrylonitrile (PAN) asymmetric membrane. The multilayer structures and free-volume depth profile for this asymmetric membrane system are obtained. Positron annihilation spectroscopy coupled with a slow beam could provide new information about size selectivity of transporting molecules and guidance for molecular designs in polymeric membranes.     

Free volumes in bulk nanocrystalline metals studied by the complementary techniques of positron annihilation and dilatometry

Free-volume type defects, such as vacancies, vacancy-agglomerates, dislocations, and grain boundaries represent a key parameter in the properties of ultrafine-grained and nanocrystalline materials. Such free-volume type defects are introduced in high excess concentration during the processes of structural refinement by severe plastic deformation. The direct method of time-differential dilatometry is applied in the present work to determine the total amount and the kinetics of free volume by measuring the irreversible length change upon annealing of bulk nanocrystalline metals (Fe, Cu, Ni) prepared by high-pressure torsion (HPT). In the case of HPT-deformed Ni and Cu, distinct substages of the length change upon linear heating occur due to the loss of grain boundaries in the wake of crystallite growth. The data on dilatometric length change can be directly related to the fast annealing of free-volume type defects studied by in situ Doppler broadening measurements performed at the high-intensity positron beam of the FRM II (Garching, Munich, Germany).