Measurements of electric-field strengths in ionization fronts during breakdown

Using laser-induced fluorescence-dip Stark spectroscopy, we performed time-resolved, direct measurements of electric-field strengths during the breakdown phase of a low-pressure, pulsed discharge in xenon. With this experimental technique we could for the first time quantitatively measure the time evolution of the driving force of the plasma breakdown process: the electric field. Moving ionization fronts were measured with submicrosecond resolution. These ionization fronts were sustained by a spatially narrow, rapidly moving region of strong electric field.     

Evolution of a dust void in a radio-frequency plasma sheath

The onset and growth of a dust void are investigated in a radio-frequency (rf) sheath of a capacitively coupled argon plasma. A circularly symmetric void emerges and grows with increasing rf power and pressure in the central region of the dust cloud levitating in the sheath. Experimental measurements of the void diameter are compared with the predictions of a simple phenomenological theory, based on a balance of forces on dust grains.     

Quantitative measurement of different ceramide species from crude cellular extracts by normal-phase high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to atmospheric pressure ionization mass spectrometry

Normal-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (NP-HPLC) coupled to atmospheric pressure ionization mass spectrometry (APCI-MS) allows quantitative analysis of endogenous ceramide and dihydroceramide species from crude lipid extracts. Qualitative information for the species comes from observation of differences in chromatographic and mass spectrometric behavior between species (Pettus et al. Rapid Commun. Mass Spectrom. 2003; 17: 1017-1026). Quantitative analysis is achieved by (1) use of a synthetic internal standard as an extraction and injection control, (2) lack of salt adduction, ion suppression, or other matrix effects in APCI mode, and (3) consistent fragmentation and ionization of external standards across the physiologically relevant concentration range found in endogenous lipid samples. Application to the analysis and quantitation of ceramide and dihydroceramide from various cell lines is demonstrated. The results from APCI-MS analysis corroborate and enhance information acquired from use of the diacylglycerol kinase assay for total ceramide measurement. This technique readily allows simultaneous quantitation of ceramide and dihydroceramide species.     

Some Isoperimetric Inequalities in Electrochemistry and Hele Shaw Flows

Isoperimetric inequalities are applied to a moving-boundaryproblem for doubly-connected domains. This problem occurs forexample in electrochemistry, in which case the domains in questionare the electrolyte of an electrolytic cell. The two electrodessurrounding the electrolyte are assumed to grow or dissolve,at different rates in general, by electrochemical reaction.We obtain optimal estimates showing, for example, that the leastchange in volume of each electrode always occurs in sphericalsymmetry.     

Laser-particulate interactions in a dusty RF plasma

The interaction of particulates formed in an argon RF discharge containing 1-5% CCl₂F₂ admixture with a pulsed infrared laser (Nd:YAG, intensity ~10⁹ W m^-2, pulse duration ~10^-4 s) has been studied in situ. The white light emitted during this process has been monitored as a function of time and wavelength using a fast photo diode and an optical multichannel analyser. The spectra have been fitted with blackbody curves with a standard deviation of 5%. A spectral temperature of about 3500 K has been obtained for various plasma conditions and attributed to the decomposition temperature of the particulate material. A model based on laser heating, internal heat conduction and chemical decomposition is compared with the experimental results. This model predicts the time constants for heating and decomposition of the particulates and explains the dependence of the measured emission intensity on the laser intensity     

Fast deposition of amorphous hydrogenated carbon films using a supersonically expanding arc plasma

Experiments concerning the growth rate and quality of an amorphous hydrogenated carbon film deposited in a reactor based on the supersonic expansion of an arc plasma are reported. In order to be able to calculate the deposition rate, an existing flow model has been completed with chernical reaction rate equations. The methane gas that is injected in the arc appears to be dissociated and ionized completely. The calculated deposition rates agree well with the experimental values obtained within-situ ellipsometry. The growth rates are an order of magnitude larger than those reported in the literature. Still, the film quality, expressed in terms of refractive index, optical bandgap, and hardness, is similar to those obtained by other authors.