强电磁脉冲(激光、微波)在高温离解氮气中的击穿效应

 通过对电子能量分布函数所满足的Boltzmann方程的求解，在理论上分析了强电磁脉冲(激光、微波)在高温氮气中的击穿效应。高温气体的一个主要特征是其中的部分气体分子会离解为原子，这一离解效应会对强电磁脉冲在气体中发生电离击穿的阈值产生影响。计算表明：随着温度的升高，氮分子的离解度增大，强电磁脉冲的击穿阈值下降；击穿阈值的下降幅度与电磁波的频率有关，对频率较高的红外激光，击穿阈值下降明显；而对微波，击穿阈值所受影响较小。     

高功率微波输出窗内侧击穿动力学的PIC/MCC模拟研究

高功率微波在受控热核聚变加热、微波高梯度加速器、高功率雷达、定向能武器、超级干扰机及冲击雷达等方面有着重要的应用.本文针对高功率微波输出窗内侧氩气放电击穿过程,建立了二次电子倍增和气体电离的一维空间分布、三维速度分布（1D3V）模型,并开发了相应的PIC/MC程序代码.研究了气压、微波频率、微波振幅对放电击穿的影响.结果表明：在真空情况下,介质窗放电击穿只存在二次电子倍增过程;在低气压和稍高气压时,二次电子倍增和气体电离共存;在极高气压时,气体电离占主导.给出了不同气压下电子、离子的密度和静电场的空间分布.此外还观察到,在500 mTorr时,随着微波振幅或微波频率的变化,气体电离出现的时刻和电离产生的等离子体峰值位置有较大差异,尤其是当微波频率（GHz）在数值上是微波振幅（MV/m）的2倍时,气体电离出现的较早.     

典型放电气体的击穿场强阈值研究

为了研究等离子体产生时的气体击穿特性,利用低气压条件下气体击穿场强阈值模型,分析了He、Ne、Ar、Kr、Xe和Hg蒸汽等6种典型放电气体的击穿阈值随入射波频率、电子温度、气体压强以及气体温度的变化规律。结果表明:气体击穿阈值随气体压强的增大而减小,随气体温度、电子温度和入射脉冲频率的增大而增大。气体压强和入射频率对击穿阈值的影响大于气体温度和电子温度,在所考虑的范围内,气体压强对击穿场强的影响约为100 V/m,入射脉冲频率对击穿场强的影响为50~300 V/m,气体温度和电子温度对击穿场强的影响为20~30 V/m。当考虑气体压强、气体温度以及电子温度等因素的影响时,各种气体的击穿场强阈值产生的变化规律相类似;但考虑入射频率的影响时,不同气体的击穿场强阈值差异很大。在所考虑的典型放电气体中,Xe具有最低的击穿场强阈值,He的击穿阈值最大。     

开放空间重复频率微波脉冲击穿概率理论与实验研究

综合考虑有效初始电子产生理论、雪崩电子击穿理论等过程中的击穿延迟时间,探讨了开放空间微波脉冲的击穿延时概率分布,提出了重复频率微波脉冲击穿概率模型,定义了基于概率模型的微波脉冲击穿阈值。利用S波段微波准光学反射聚焦系统对一定气压大气击穿过程进行了模拟,监测击穿放电发光时刻作为击穿时间,分别在铯137放射源存在与否情况下开展了系列实验。研究结果表明,提高种子电子产生率相较于提高电离率是增大脉冲击穿概率更有效的方法;重复频率过程中,若存在累积效应,击穿延时概率分布曲线将左移并趋于稳定,击穿后的气体在短时间内容易再次击穿。     

大气击穿对高功率微波天线的影响

 高功率微波大气传播过程中，天线附近的功率密度最大，容易发生强电离或大气击穿，由此产生“尾蚀效应”等非线性衰减，因此，传输过程中产生的大气击穿限制了高功率微波天线的最大发射功率。通过分析天线近场模型，研究了矩形口径天线和圆口径天线的近场轴向功率密度分布，得到了不同口面场分布下天线的最大归一化功率密度及其最大值所处的位置，并结合大气击穿功率密度阈值计算出锥照圆口径天线的最大发射功率约为148.47 GW。     

110 GHz太赫兹波大气击穿阈值及最大传输能量密度

随着110 GHz高功率太赫兹波功率容量的提升,其引起的大气击穿问题越来越受到重视。将若干等效电离参数表达式引入到电子雪崩密度方程中,计算了不同压强下的大气击穿阈值。结果表明,由Ali等效电离参数得到的110 GHz击穿阈值与实验数据符合得很好。在此基础上,利用Ali等效电离参数对逃逸传输能量密度与太赫兹波振幅的关系进行了分析。结果表明,当太赫兹波振幅小于击穿阈值时,逃逸传输能量密度随功率密度的增加线性增加;当太赫兹波振幅大于击穿阈值时,逃逸传输能量密度随功率密度先减小后增大。     

高功率微波沿面闪络击穿机制粒子模拟

针对高功率微波介质沿面闪络击穿物理过程,首先建立了理论模型,包括:动力学方程、粒子模拟算法、二次电子发射, 以及电子与气体分子蒙特卡罗碰撞模型、电子碰撞介质表面退吸附气体分子机制;其次,基于理论模型,编制了1D3V PIC-MCC程序,分别针对真空二次电子倍增、高气压体电离击穿和低气压面电离击穿过程,运用该程序仔细研究了电子和离子随时间演化关系、电子运动轨迹、电子及离子密度分布、空间电荷场时空分布、电子平均能量、碰撞电子平均能量、碰撞电子数目随时间演化关系、电子能量分布函数、平均二次电子发射率以及能量转换关系。研究结果表明:真空二次电子倍增引发的介质表面沉积功率只能达到入射微波功率1%左右的水平,不足以击穿;气体碰撞电离主导的高气压体电离击穿,是由低能电子（eV量级）数目指数增长到一定程度导致的,形成位置远离介质表面,形成时间为s量级;低气压下的介质沿面闪络击穿,是在二次电子倍增和气体碰撞电离共同作用下,由于数目持续增长的高能电子（keV量级）碰撞介质沿面导致沉积功率激增而引发的,形成位置贴近介质沿面,形成时间在ns量级。     

用汞管研究弗兰克-赫兹实验中的电离问题

在弗兰克-赫兹实验中会观察到板极电流振荡曲线在某个电压下突然升高,振荡消失的现象,此时管子内部气体被击穿,产生大量离子和电子.由此产生一个疑问:原子电离是从何时开始的?是只存在于击穿过程中,还是早在击穿之前就存在了呢?通过电流放大器测量栅极G1的电流随栅极G2电压的变化曲线,观察到电流的逐步下降和突然反向的现象,获得了原子电离的直接证据,它说明:不仅在击穿时原子被电离,在击穿之前就存在着电离的过程,电离的数量随着加速电压增大而增多,击穿是电离增多到某种程度的突然放大。该发现的延伸意义是:既然有电离的存在,也就有各种高激发的存在,弗兰克-赫兹实验曲线是多种激发的综合结果,不能只考虑单一能级的激发。     

激光大气击穿阈值的数值分析

 针对大气中飞行器的等离子体隐身问题，数值计算了ns量级强激光击穿大气的阈值，讨论了一些相关条件对阈值的影响。结果表明：对于ns量级的入射激光，波长越长，大气的击穿阈值越小；气压越大，击穿阈值也越小；气体中存在的初始电子对不易产生光电离的长波长入射激光的击穿阈值，有明显的减少作用，但对短波长入射激光的击穿阈值几乎没有影响；脉宽越宽，激光辐照的时间越长，大气击穿的阈值越小。     

基于混合大气传输模型的单脉冲高功率微波大气击穿理论与实验研究

综合考虑高功率微波强电场作用下的热致快速电子效应、碰撞频率、电离频率等充分体现高功率微波特性的参量模型,基于高功率微波混合大气传输模型,提出了单脉冲高功率微波混合大气统一非线性击穿模型,定义了单脉冲高功率微波击穿阈值.理论研究结果表明:考虑中性气体分子极化作用以及电子的碰撞热效应后,大气击穿时对应的等离子体频率明显变大;大气击穿阈值随高度的增加先逐渐减小然后增大,在30-60 km区域存在一个极小值.开展了X波段窄带高功率微波单脉冲大气击穿实验研究,得到了典型条件下的高功率微波击穿现象、波形和阈值,且与理论结果一致性较好.     

Deceleration and acceleration of fast electrons in a dense gas in an electric field

The propagation of electrons in a gas at energies higher than the excitation energy of the K shell of the gas atoms is simulated numerically. Calculations show that, without a field, the penetration depth of the electrons into a gas heavier than nitrogen is limited primarily by their elastic collisions with atomic nuclei. For electrons moving in an electric field, the effect of elastic collisions is that there is no definite electric field strength above which an electron with a given energy will be continuously accelerated. Even in an electric field much stronger than the critical one, only a fraction of electrons are accelerated. The remaining electrons turn back due to elastic collisions and lose their energy in deceleration by the field. In this case, the propagation velocity of the centroid of the electrons tends to a constant value.     

Electron stimulated desorption of O2 from gadolinia-doped ceria surfaces

The interactions of gas phase oxygen with gadolinia-doped ceria (GDC) surfaces are investigated by electron stimulated desorption (ESD). The primary desorbed cationic species related to molecular oxygen adsorption is O₂⁺. The threshold energy for ESD of O₂⁺ is 13–14 eV, indicating electron impact ionization of molecular oxygen bound at oxygen vacancies. Dependence of O₂⁺ velocities upon incident electron energy and substrate temperature reveals the dominant influence of the effective charge of the adsorption complex. The O₂⁺ velocity distribution is bimodal, and the onset of the faster components at room temperature is related to the balance between fluxes of incident electrons and secondary electron emission, causing effective hole production and neutralization of trapped electrons at surface states.     

Collision operator for relativistic electrons in a cold gas of atomic particles

The collision operator of relativistic electrons with a cold gas of atomic particles is derived consistently taking into account elastic interactions, excitation of electron shells, and ionization. The creation of secondary electrons is described accurately. In the range of energies exceeding the binding energy of atomic electrons, the operator implicates only the angular scattering by nuclei and the ionization integral that automatically allows for scattering by atomic electrons. The collision operator used earlier for studying the kinetics of avalanches of relativistic runaway electrons is analyzed. A more exact operator derived in the present study is simpler in form and saves time in computer calculations.     

The electron temperature in the plasma of a DC discharge created in a supersonic airflow

The plasma parameters of a pulsating DC discharge created in a supersonic airflow with a Mach number of M = 2 are determined. It is revealed that along with the intense bands of CN and the molecular nitrogen ion, as well as the spectral lines of atomic oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen and copper, an intense continuous spectrum is observed in the spectrum of the gas-discharge plasma radiation, which is caused by the deceleration of electrons on ions. The dependences of the electron temperature on the discharge current and longitudinal coordinates are determined. It was revealed that the studied plasma is nonequilibrium, with the electron temperature being much higher than the gas temperature.     

Collisions of ultracold trapped cesium Feshbach molecules

We study collisions in an optically trapped, pure sample of ultracold Cs₂ molecules in various internal states. The molecular gas is created by Feshbach association from a near-degenerate atomic gas, with adjustable temperatures in the nanokelvin range. We identify several narrow loss resonances, which point to the coupling to more complex molecular states and may be interpreted as Feshbach resonances in dimerdimer interactions. Moreover, in some molecular states we observe a surprising temperature dependence in collisional loss. This shows that the situation cannot be understood in terms of the usual simple threshold behavior for inelastic two-body collisions. We interpret this observation as further evidence for a more complex molecular structure beyond the well-understood dimer physics.     

An electrohydrodynamics model for non-equilibrium electron and phonon transport in metal films after ultra-short pulse laser heating

The electrons and phonons in metal films after ultra-short pulse laser heating are in highly non-equilibrium states not only between the electrons and the phonons but also within the electrons. An electrohydrodynamics model consisting of the balance equations of electron density, energy density of electrons, and energy density of phonons is derived from the coupled non-equilibrium electron and phonon Boltzmann transport equations to study the nonlinear thermal transport by considering the electron density fluctuation and the transient electric current in metal films, after ultra-short pulse laser heating. The temperature evolution is calculated by the coupled electron and phonon Boltzmann transport equations, the electrohydrodynamics model derived in this work, and the two-temperature model. Different laser pulse durations, film thicknesses, and laser fluences are considered. We find that the two-temperature model overestimates the electron temperature at the front surface of the film and underestimates the damage threshold when the nonlinear thermal transport of electrons is important. The electrohydrodynamics model proposed in this work could be a more accurate prediction tool to study the non-equilibrium electron and phonon transport process than the two-temperature model and it is much easier to be solved than the Boltzmann transport equations.     

Modeling of Nonthermal Solid‐to‐Solid Phase Transition in Diamond Irradiated with Femtosecond x‐ray FEL Pulse

In this contribution we review in detail our recently developed hybrid model able to trace simultaneously nonequilibrium electron kinetics, evolution of an electronic structure, and eventually nonthermal phase transition in solids irradiated with femtosecond free‐electron laser pulses. Diamond irradiated with an ultrashort intense x‐ray pulse serves as an example to show how an irradiated material undergoes an ultrafast phase transition on sub‐picosecond timescales. The transition of diamond into graphite is induced by an excitation of electrons from the valence band into the conduction band, which, in turn, induces a rapid change of the interatomic potential. Our theoretical model incorporates: a Monte‐Carlo method for tracing high‐energy electrons and K‐shell holes in diamond; a temperature equation for the valence‐band and low‐energy conduction‐band electrons; a tight binding method for calculation of the evolving electronic structure of the material and potential energy surfaces; and molecular dynamics propagating atomic trajectories. This unified approach predicts the damage threshold of diamond in a good agreement with experimentally measured values. It reveals a multi‐step nature of nonthermal phase transition being an interplay between electronic excitation, changes of the band structure, and atomic reordering. An effect of pulse parameters, such as photon energy and temporal pulse shape, on the phase transition is discussed in detail. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

纳秒脉冲下高能量快电子逃逸过程的计算

基于快电子的逃逸击穿机理将是一种能解释纳秒脉冲高过电压倍数下气体放电现象的理论，对高能量快电子的逃逸运动、碰撞电离引导电子崩的发展等进行了分析，并根据电子能量与阻力关系式，对电子的俘获或逃逸过程进行了计算.结果表明外加场强越高，更多的电子能逃逸，逃逸的能量阈值越低，气压对电子的逃逸过程影响也较大.同时也定性描述了纳秒脉冲下逃逸击穿放电过程. 关键词： 气体放电 快电子 逃逸击穿 纳秒脉冲     

Charge exchange and threshold effect in the energy loss of slow projectiles

In this Letter, we study charge exchange and energy loss of protons, taking into account the dynamics of both nuclei and electrons during the collision with atomic hydrogen, helium, and neon targets. We obtain the nuclear and electronic contributions to the energy loss as well as the charge exchange probability, and the total cross section for charge exchange. We find a low-energy threshold in the electronic energy loss due to the quantization of excited states. We find that the electronic stopping cross section is not proportional to the velocity of the projectile at very low velocities (energies), as is predicted by electron gas theory. This confirms recent experimental results.