The effect of target size on α-Fe nanoparticle preparation by?pulsed laser ablation

Two methods of preparing Fe nanoparticles at atmospheric pressure were conducted using pulsed laser ablation of a 0.5-mm-diameter Fe wire and a bulk Fe target. Passivated α-Fe nanoparticles covered with a shell of γ-Fe₂O₃ were prepared at different process parameters. The influences of average laser power, repetition rate, pulse duration and carrier-gas pressure on the mean particle size for two laser ablation methods were investigated, respectively. The results show that the target size has a large effect on the nanoparticle preparation though we have the same range of laser process parameters. Except the carrier-gas pressure, the influence of the laser parameters on the mean particle size is almost opposite for the two laser ablation methods. Besides, the ablation mechanisms were discussed to understand the variation of mean particle sizes with target size.     

Dynamics simulation on interaction of intense laser pulses with atomic clusters

Under classical particle dynamics, the interaction process between intense femtosecond laser pulses and icosahedral noble-gas atomic clusters was studied. Our calculated results show that ionization proceeds mainly through tunnel ionization in the combined field from ions, electrons and laser, rather than the electron-impact ionization. With increasing cluster size, the average and maximum kinetic energy of the product ion increases. According to our calculation, the expansion process of the clusters after laser irradiation is dominated by Coulomb explosion and the expansion scale increases with increasing cluster size. The dependence of average kinetic energy and average charge state of the product ions on laser wavelength is also presented and discussed. The dependence of average kinetic energy on the number of atoms inside the cluster was studied and compared with the experimental data. Our results agree with the experimental results reasonably well.     

UV laser irradiation of IR laser generated particles ablated from nitrobenzyl alcohol

Particles generated by 2.94 μm pulsed IR laser ablation of liquid 3-nitrobenzyl alcohol were irradiated with a 351 nm UV laser 3.5 mm above and parallel to the sample target. The size and concentration of the ablated particles were measured with a light scattering particle sizer. The application of the UV laser resulted in a reduction in the average particle size by one-half and an increase in the total particle concentration by a factor of nine. The optimum delay between the IR and UV lasers was between 16 and 26 μs and was dependent on the fluence of the IR laser: higher fluence led to a more rapid appearance of particulate. The ejection velocity of the particle plume, as determined by the delay time corresponding to the maximum two-laser particle concentration signal, was 130 m/s at 1600 J/m² IR laser fluence and increased to 220 m/s at 2700 J/m². The emission of particles extended for several ms. The observations are consistent with a rapid phase change and emission of particulate, followed by an extended emission of particles ablated from the target surface.     

Power dependence of size of laser ablated colloidal silver nanoparticles

Silver nanoparticles have been produced by laser ablation of silver metal in nanopure water without any chemical additives. It has been observed that laser power has a control over the size of the nanoparticles. Increasing laser power shows a clear blue shift in the absorption peak of fabricated nanoparticles indicating that the average size of the particles decreases with increasing laser power. Ablation for longer period reduces the average size of nanoparticles which is attributed to the re-ablation of fabricated nanoparticles. A good correlation has been observed between the peak of the absorption spectrum measured by UV-VIS spectroscopy and the average particle size measured by scanning electron microscope imaging method. The value of the coefficient of correlation is determined to be 0.965.     

Experimental EOS determination of aluminum at Mbar pressure

Equations of state (EOS) of matter at Mbar pressure are fundamental to numerous applications such as in astrophysics[1], plasma physics[2], inertial confinement fusion[3—6], and other related fields. Laser directly and indirectly induced shock wave compression of materials is an effective way to access these material states. Many recent experiments have been devoted to the study of laser driven shock waves and their use in the EOS measurement of strongly compressed materials[7]. It is well…     

Investigation of the Flow Field in the Upper Part of a Cyclone with Laser and Phase Doppler Anemometry

The cyclone is a well known apparatus for separating particles out of a gas stream. With the modern laser diagnostic technologies of laser and phase Doppler anemometry (LDA and PDA), there is the potential to measure the flow and particle field inside the cyclone. The gas phase only measurements used micron‐sized oil seeding droplets, whereas the solid phase, chosen for the PDA particle size measurements, was limestone powder. To assess the possibility of measuring milled limestone particles with PDA, the measured size distribution was compared with those obtained by laser diffraction. The measurements inside the cyclone showed that the flow field in the upper part of the cyclone was different to that commonly thought. Therefore, the vertical height of the cyclone's vortex finder could be shortened without deterioration of the separation efficiency. The particles found in the hold‐up of the cyclone air flow were considerably larger than the average particle size in the feed pipe.     

Continuous laser direct-writing of PbS nanoparticles inside transparent silica monoliths

Direct space-selective growth of PbS nanoparticles, embedded inside a transparent porous sol–gel derived silica matrix, has been achieved using continuous laser irradiation. Before the irradiation, the porous silica host has been soaked in a PbS precursor solution. The effect of the concentration of PbS precursors and of the incident laser power on the mean particle size was studied. Absorption spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis, and TEM measurements were used to identify the PbS crystallites inside the xerogel and to estimate the average particle size. It has been shown that PbS crystallite sizes range between 3 and 13 nm depending on the PbS precursors concentration.     

光源的偏振态对动态光散射颗粒测量结果的影响

研究了在动态光散射纳米颗粒测量中,光源的偏振态对测量结果的影响。采用了粒径为100nm、体积浓度为0.5%的标准颗粒作为样品,使He-Ne激光通过起偏器得到0°～180°方向的偏振光,测量了散射光强、偏振度和粒径测量值的变化,计算了相应的粒径均值偏差和标准差,并将这一结果与无偏振He-Ne激光入射进行了比较。结果表明,当入射光为线偏振光时,偏振方向垂直于散射面时测量效果最好;另一方面,由于颗粒系散射迭加造成的散射光偏振度降低,使线偏振光源与无偏振光源产生的散射光偏振度无明显差别,证明在测量中可以使用无偏振He-Ne激光代替。     

Speckle size and decorrelation time; space-time correlation analysis of coherent light dynamically scattered from turbid media

We report on the dependence of the decorrelation time on the spatial intensity correlation of speckles generated in the far-field by back-scattered photons from turbid media. The effects contribute to an explanation of an earlier observation that the average Doppler width of the power spectrum of detector current fluctuations depends on the size of the illuminating laser beam. The space-time correlation of the speckles generated by a particle suspension illuminated by a collimated laser beam is analyzed from serial images taken by a high speed camera. It was found that larger spatial correlation distances, associated with large speckles, exhibit a slower temporal decorrelation.     

Synthesis of FeCo nanoparticles by pulsed laser deposition in a diffusion cloud chamber

Magnetic FeCo nanoparticles were successfully synthesized in a diffusion cloud chamber setup within pulsed laser deposition (PLD) equipment. The variation of morphology and size of FeCo nanoparticles with the number of laser pulses, ambient gas pressure and temperature gradient was studied. It was observed that the morphology of the nanoparticles changes from “cloud-like” fractal clusters to particle chains; average particle size increased at higher argon gas pressure. Increasing the temperature gradient considerably reduced the agglomeration of the nanoparticles. Nanoparticles deposited using the diffusion cloud chamber are found to be crystalline.     

Combustion of micron-sized particles of titanium and zirconium

Particles of titanium and zirconium in the size range of 2–25 μm are ignited while passing through a CO₂ laser beam and their combustion is monitored optically. Prior to ignition, particles pass through a low-power auxiliary laser beam so that the diameter of each ignited particle is measured in situ based on the amplitude of the scattered light pulse. The particles of both Ti and Zr are observed to exhibit micro explosions, similar to those observed for larger size particles of these metals. Particle emission traces are recorded, and a data processing routine is established for discounting emission signals produced by unignited particles and particles partially combusted within the CO₂ laser beam. Burn times and combustion temperatures are measured and compared to earlier measurements for coarser particles of the same metals. For both metals, average combustion temperatures implied by the emission spectra are very close to their respective adiabatic flame temperatures. For both metals, for the particle size range considered, particle combustion temperatures do not depend on the particle size. The particle burn times were found to be only weak functions of the particle size; burn times for Zr are shorter and temperatures are higher compared to the similarly sized Ti particles.     

Thermal Analysis of Gold Nanorods Heated with Femtosecond Laser Pulses

We present an axisymmetric computational model to study the heating processes of gold nanoparticles, specifically nanorods, in aqueous medium by femtosecond laser pulses. We use a two-temperature model for the particle, a heat diffusion equation for the surrounding water to describe the heat transfer processes occurring in the system, and a thermal interface conductance to describe the coupling efficiency at the particle/water interface. We investigate the characteristic time scales of various fundamental processes, including lattice heating and thermal equilibration at the particle/surroundings interface, the effects of multiple laser pulses, and the influence of nanorod orientation relative to the beam polarization on energy absorption. Our results indicate that the thermal equilibration at the particle/water interface takes approximately 500 ps, while the electron-lattice coupling is achieved at approximately 50 ps when a 48×14 nm gold nanorod is heated to a maximum temperature of 1270 K with the application of a laser pulse having 4.70 J/m(2) average fluence. Irradiation by multiple pulses arriving at 12.5 ns time intervals (80 MHz repetition rate) causes a temperature increase of no more than 3 degrees during the first few pulses with no substantial changes during the subsequent pulses. We also analyze the degree of the nanorods' heating as a function of their orientation with respect to the polarization of the incident light. Lastly, it is shown that the temperature change of a nanorod can be modeled using its volume equivalent sphere for femtosecond laser heating within 5-15% accuracy.     

海洋混合悬浮颗粒对蓝绿激光的散射特性研究

激光在水下的传输很大程度上会受到海水中悬浮颗粒物的影响,而目前对于海洋中悬浮颗粒物光散射的理论研究大多是针对单一成分的悬浮粒子而进行的,但是在真实海洋中悬浮颗粒物都是以多种成分混合的颗粒群形式而存在的,因此研究真实海洋中混合悬浮颗粒物对蓝绿激光的散射特性具有重要意义。该研究选取了对蓝绿激光传输产生较大影响的浮游藻类植物、悬浮泥沙、碎屑、悬浮气泡和矿物质这五种常见的悬浮颗粒物作为研究对象,充分考虑真实海况中这五种悬浮颗粒物的不同混合情况,构建了海水中混合球形悬浮颗粒物对蓝绿激光的散射特性模型。数值计算了海水中五种物质混合的球形悬浮颗粒物对532 nm蓝绿激光的统计平均光散射参量和平均散射相函数,分析不同混合悬浮颗粒物的混合比对平均散射、吸收和消光系数以及单次反照率随着粒子有效半径和粒子数浓度变化的影响,同时分析了不同粒子尺寸下的不同混合比对混合悬浮颗粒物的平均散射相函数随着角度变化的影响。数值结果表明,当悬浮泥沙在整个混合模型中占比越大时,平均散射系数越大,而当悬浮藻类粒子在整个混合模型中占比增大时,平均吸收系数增大,由此可知海洋中对光造成主要影响的五种常见悬浮颗粒物中,悬浮泥沙对光散射作用影响最大,悬浮藻类粒子对光吸收作用影响最大。随着悬浮颗粒物浓度的增大,混合粒子的单次反照率保持不变,由此可知混合悬浮颗粒物的平均光散射参量随着粒子浓度的增长速率是一致的。海洋中混合悬浮颗粒物的平均散射相函数随着粒子的有效半径的增大而增大,散射作用最大的混合比下的悬浮颗粒物其平均散射相函数最大,悬浮颗粒物的前向散射较强。该工作对蓝绿激光在海水中传输、信道建模,水下无线光通信的研究以及激光探测都具有重要的理论指导意义。     

Room-temperature laser deposition of GaAs nanocrystals on PMMA microspheres using particle fluidization

A modified pulsed laser deposition (PLD) was successfully employed to deposit GaAs nanocrystals on the surface of PMMA (polymethylmethacrylate) microspheres. This novel approach is distinguished by the fact that laser ablated materials are deposited uniformly onto the surface of spherical particles that are held constantly in a particle fluidization unit. The XRD, SEM, EDX, TEM, EDP, and XPS results confirmed that cubic structured GaAs nanocrystals was deposited uniformly on the surface of PMMA microspheres with an average diameter of about 15 nm. PACS 81.15.Fg; 78.55.Cr; 82.35.Np     

Microstructure of nanocrystalline nonstoichiometric vanadium carbide VC0.875

A nanocrystalline powder of nonstoichiometric vanadium carbide VC_0.875 has been prepared by the high-energy ball milling method. The crystal structure, microstructure, morphology, and size distribution of particles of the initial and milled powders have been investigated using X-ray diffraction, laser diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy. For vanadium carbide, the model calculation of the particle size of a VC_0.875 nanopowder as a function of the milling duration has been performed for the first time. A comparison of the experimental and theoretical results has demonstrated that a nanopowder with an average particle size of 40–80 nm can be obtained by a 10-h high-energy ball milling of the initial vanadium carbide powder with an average particle size of ～6 μm.     

Restructuring of plasmonic nanoparticle aggregates with arbitrary particle size distribution in pulsed laser fields

We have studied processes of interaction of pulsed laser radiation with resonant groups of plasmonic nanoparticles(resonant domains) in large colloidal nanoparticle aggregates having different interparticle gaps and particle size distributions.These processes are responsible for the origin of nonlinear optical effects and photochromic reactions in multiparticle aggregates.To describe photo-induced transformations in resonant domains and alterations in their absorption spectra remaining after the pulse action,we introduce the factor of spectral photomodification.Based on calculation of changes in thermodynamic,mechanical,and optical characteristics of the domains,the histograms of the spectrum photomodification factor have been obtained for various interparticle gaps,an average particle size,and the degree of polydispersity.Variations in spectra have been analyzed depending on the intensity of laser radiation and various combinations of size characteristics of domains.The obtained results can be used to predict manifestation of photochromic effects in composite materials containing different plasmonic nanoparticle aggregates in pulsed laser fields.     

An energy approach to the modelling of particle removal by pulsed laser irradiation

An energy model to explain particle removal mechanism has been developed. This model is based on a detailed investigation of contact deformation of a particle on a solid surface, as well as particle motion during the process of substrate surface expansion under uniform laser irradiation. Calculation results show that small particles mainly gain kinetic energy during pulsed laser irradiation, whereas large particles mainly gain elastic deforming potential energy. The particle removal condition is derived from the viewpoint of energy. The relationship of particle removal efficiency with laser fluence and particle size is discussed. Theoretical results are compared with experimental results. Received: 30 July 1998 / Accepted: 14 December 1998 / Published online: 17 March 1999     

Effects of ultrasound on the synthesis of silicalite-1 nanocrystals

Application of power ultrasound, offers potential in the degree of control over the preparation and properties of nanocrystalline zeolites, which have become increasingly important due to their diverse emerging applications. Synthesis of silicalite-1 nanocrystals from a clear solution was carried out at 348 K in the absence and presence of ultrasound of 300 and 600 W, in an attempt to investigate the effects of sonication, in this respect. Variation of the particle size and particle size distribution was followed with respect to time using a laser light scattering device with a detector set to collect back-scattered light at an angle of 173°. Product yield was determined and the crystallinity was analyzed by X-ray diffraction for selected samples collected during the syntheses. Nucleation, particle growth and crystallization rates all increased as a result of the application of ultrasound and highly crystalline silicalite-1 of smaller average particle diameter could be obtained at shorter synthesis times. The particle size distributions of the product populations, however, remained similar for similar average particle sizes. The rate of increase in yield was also speeded up in the presence of ultrasound, while the final product yield was not affected. Increasing the power of ultrasound, from 300 to 600 W, increased the particle growth rate and the crystalline domain size, and decreased both the final particle diameter and the time required for the particle growth to reach completion, while its effect on nucleation was unclear.     

激光能量对飞灰颗粒流中未燃碳LIBS检测影响研究

飞灰含碳量是评价锅炉燃烧效率的重要指标之一,对其进行在线测量有助于实时进行燃烧优化调整,从而提高整个机组的经济性和安全性。利用螺杆式给粉机搭建飞灰颗粒流含碳量测量台架,将脉冲激光直接作用于飞灰颗粒流,形成等离子体,利用激光诱导击穿光谱技术测量飞灰颗粒流中的含碳量信息。重点研究了激光能量对飞灰颗粒流中未燃碳有效激发和测量的影响规律。研究结果显示,在40～130 mJ能量的脉冲激光作用下,碳谱线强度随着激光能量的增大线性增强,而其信噪比则先增加后趋于稳定,无效光谱的剔除率则呈下降趋势。本实验条件下,激光能量在90～100 mJ之间,可得到较强的等离子体发射信号和较优的光谱数据利用率。因而激光能量与颗粒流的激发状态、碳元素特征谱线强度等密切相关。合理的激光能量有利于保证飞灰颗粒流的有效稳定激发,并获得具有良好信噪比的等离子体光谱信号。     

Brownian diffusion of gold nanoparticles in an optical trap studied by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy

The effect of thermal-induced Brownian motion on gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) in optical traps is studied by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) method. The Brownian motion and optical trapping potential are investigated by the decay time of the FCS curve and the laser power. It is shown that that the probability of finding a gold nanoparticle in the trap depends on the ratio of the optical energy of the particle to its thermal energy. A power threshold is observed by the decay time as a function of laser power. The experimental studies show that the temperature rise does not seriously affect the average number of particles in the focal spot, but the average residence time is more sensitively affected by the temperature.