A computer model of particle balance in ECR ion sources

The investigation of the widespread model of particle balance and energy transport [1–5] for calculating the ion charge state distribution (CSD) in an electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion source [6] is given. The modification of this model that makes it possible to describe the confinement and accumulation processes of highly charged ions in ECR plasma for the case of gas mixing is more precisely discussed. The discussion of the new technique for calculating the time confinement of ions and electrons, which is based on the Pastukhov theory [7, 8], is given: calculation of confinement times during two step minimization of special type functionals. The preliminary results obtained with this approach have been compared with available experimental data. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Positron emission isotope production cyclotron in DLNP JINR (Status Report)

A C10-cyclotron for radioisotope production is under construction at the Dzhelepov Laboratory of Nuclear Problem, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (DLNP JINR). It is a compact isochronous cyclotron for accelerating H⁻ ions to the energy of about 10 MeV. The magnetic system, vacuum chamber and accelerating system is being built now. Results of the calculation and forming of the cyclotron magnetic field and the study of the beam dynamics from an ion source to an extraction system in calculated magnetic field are presented. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Laser-assisted local patterning of ZnO-based spots for mirror-less lasing

ZnO is known as one of the best materials for the implementation of the random lasing effect, associated with mirror-less laser emission in a simultaneously amplifying and highly scattering medium. Normally, the fabrication of this medium requires a rather complicated procedure of deposition and thermal treatment of ZnO-based films on some specific substrates, yielding wurtzite-orientation ZnO nanocrystals. We demonstrate a rapid synthesis of highly efficient ZnO-based random lasing spots on a piece of Zn by employing the phenomenon of laser-induced air breakdown. Being ignited near the surface of a Zn target, plasma of the air breakdown serves as a local reactor to locally transform its properties and thus form a film of well-packed 20–40 nm ZnO nanospheres. Exhibiting extremely high amplification and scattering, this medium is capable of generating the random lasing effect within the exciton-based photoluminescent band.     

Physical characteristics of polyimide films for flexible sensors

Physical characteristics of polyimide films, including optical, micro/nano mechanical, and thermophysical characteristics were investigated using a photometric, a nanoindentation, and a thermomechanical analyzer for applications in flexible sensors. Experimental results show that UV light cannot transmit into the polyimide films. The transmittances, with a maximum of about 86%, at VIS and near IR lights decrease with increasing PI film thicknesses. The mechanical characteristics were determined using tensile, bending moment, and nanoindentation testing. The stress–strain curve approximated bilinear characteristics, the load–unload bending moment exhibited hysteresis, and nanoindentation generated elastic energy dissipation in the loading–unloading region. Nanoindentation showed an almost uniform hardness and a reduced Young’s modulus of about 0.181±0.03 and 3.21±0.06 GPa, respectively, when the penetrating depth was more than about 2 μm. Thermophysical characteristics were greatly influenced on 8.3 and 25 μm specimens due to the higher relaxation of thin PI films. The thermal expansion remained steady when the thickness was over 50 μm. The results show that PI films have potential in flexible sensing and higher temperature fabrication.     

Some asymptotic formulae for one-electron two-center problem

Asymptotic formulae of some expectation values related to the relativistic corrections in inverse powers of the internuclear distance R for the lsσ _g electron state of hydrogen molecular ion H₂⁺ and the lsσ molecule-like state of antiprotonic helium atom He⁺ are obtained with the use of the first-order perturbation function. Using these asymptotic formulae, the relativistic correction of order mα⁶ for these states in reciprocal powers of the internuclear distance R is derived to accuracy of (R ⁻⁴). The article is published in the original.     

An IC100 cyclotron based facility for producing nuclear filters and for scientific and applied research

The cyclotron IC-100 station, based on the Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions (JINR, Dubna, Russia), provides the industrial construction of nuclear filters. During modernization, the cyclotron was equipped with a superconducting ECR-ion source and an axial injection system. The specialized beam channel with a two coordinate scanning system and equipment for irradiating polymer films was installed in the implantation part of the station. High intensity heavy ion beams of Ne, Ar, Fe, Kr, Xe, I, and W have been accelerated to 1 MeV/nucleon energy. The investigation into irradiated crystals features and irradiation of different polymer films is provided. Also, a few thousands square meters of track films with holes in the wide range of densities were produced. The cyclotron-based station is capable of solving different kinds of scientific and applied problems as well. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Novel sets of coupling expansion parameters for low-energy pQCD

In quantum theory, physical amplitudes are usually presented in the form of a Feynman perturbation series in powers of coupling constant α. However, it is known that these amplitudes are not regular functions at α = 0. For QCD, we propose new sets of expansion parameters w _k (α _s ) that reflect singularity at α _s = 0 and should be used instead of powers α _s ^k . Their explicit form is motivated by the so-called Analytic Perturbation Theory. These parameters reveal saturation in a strong coupling case at the level α _s ^eff (α _s 1) = w ₁(α _s 1) ∼ 0.5. They can be used for the quantitative analysis of divers low-energy amplitudes. We argue that this new picture with non-power sets of perturbation expansion parameters, as well as the saturation feature, is of a rather general nature. The text was submitted by the author in English. A preliminary version with the main results was published in [1].     

Beam dynamics study in the C235 cyclotron for proton therapy

A study of the beam dynamics in the C235 (T06) cyclotron made for proton therapy is presented. Results of the computer simulations of the particle motion in the measured magnetic field are given. A study of the resonance influence on the acceleration process was carried out. The corresponding tolerances on the magnetic field imperfections and transverse beam parameters were defined using these simulations. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

The use of linear superconducting electron accelerator for subcritical reactor driving

At the National Science Centre, Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology (NSC KIPT) the possibility of creating an installation with a subcritical reactor driven by an electron accelerator is examined. To obtain the maximal stream of neutrons from a neutron-producing target at a minimal density of energy emission, the electron energy should be in the range of 100–200 MeV and the size of the target should be as large as possible. Other important requirements are beam continuity with time and long-term stability of the accelerator parameters. The variants of using the superconducting linear accelerator on the basis of a TESLA accelerating structure as of subcritical reactor driver are considered. The basic design parameters and characteristics of this installation are presented. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Magnet design and beam dynamics in computed fields for the DC-350 cyclotron

The DC-350 is an isochronous cyclotron designed in the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reaction (FLNR). It is intended for accelerating ions with a mass-to-charge ratio A/Z within an interval of 5–10 and with an energy of 3–12 MeV/u at the extraction radius. These ion beams will be used in nuclear and applied physics experiments. The paper describes the results of a 3D magnet simulation. The cyclotron magnet and IM90 analiziting-bend magnet of the axial injection channel are studied here. The influence of correction coils on the cyclotron magnet is calculated. All magnet fields were calculated by MERMAID 3D code [1]. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Medium-modified average multiplicity and multiplicity fluctuations in jets

The energy evolution of average multiplicities and multiplicity fluctuations in jets produced in heavy-ion collisions is investigated from a toy QCD-inspired model. In this model, we use modified splitting functions accounting for medium-enhanced radiation of gluons by a fast parton which propagates through the quark–gluon plasma. The leading contribution of the standard production of soft hadrons is enhanced by a factor while next-to-leading order (NLO) corrections are suppressed by , where the parameter N _s >1 accounts for the induced soft gluons in the medium. Our results for such global observables are cross-checked and compared with their limits in the vacuum.     

Influence of fractal surface dimension on the dissolution process of sparingly soluble CaCO<Subscript>3</Subscript> microparticles

The dissolution process of sparingly soluble CaCO₃ microparticles and how the fractal surface dimension of the particles changes during dissolution is analyzed. The particles and the dissolution process are studied using scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, nitrogen adsorption, laser diffraction and conductance measurements. Ball milling of the particles is shown to maintain the particle crystallinity, and to introduce an increased fractal surface dimension in the 1–10 μm size range. Dissolution is found to increase the surface dimension of initially smooth particles and to maintain the fractal surface roughness of milled particles. The dissolution process increases the relative number of small particles (50 nm–1 μm) whereas the larger ones decrease in size. The solubility of the milled fractal particles was ∼1.8 times higher than that for the initially smooth ones. The presented findings show that developing methods for increasing the fractal surface roughness of particles should be of interest for improving the solubility of poorly soluble drug candidates.     

Ultrafast laser based “green” synthesis of non-toxic nanoparticles in aqueous solutions

Inorganic nanoparticles offer novel promising properties for biological sensing and imaging, as well as in therapeutics. However, these applications are often complicated by the possible toxicity of conventional nanomaterials, arising as a result of inadequate purification procedures of nanoparticles obtained via synthetic pathways using toxic or non-biocompatible substances. We review novel femtosecond laser-assisted methods, which enable the preparation of metal nanomaterials in clean, biologically friendly aqueous environment (“green” synthesis) and thus completely solve the toxicity problem. The proposed methods, including laser ablation and fragmentation, make possible the production of stable metal colloids of extremely small size (∼2 nm) with a low coefficient of variation (15–25%). Those nanoparticles exhibit unique surface chemistry and can be used for bio-imaging, cancer treatment and nanoparticle-enhanced Raman spectroscopy.     

Perception of the sound source position

This paper presents several experiments on sound source localization. They are based on monaural click presented at different interclick intervals (ICI), from 10 to 100 ms. Trains of clicks were presented to 10 healthy subjects. At short interclick intervals the clicks were perceived as a blur of clicks having a buzzy quality. Moreover, it was proven that the accurateness in the response improves with the increase of the length of ICI. The present results imply the usefulness of the interclick interval in estimating the perceptual accuracy. An important benefit of this task is that this enables a careful examination of the sound source perception threshold. This allows detecting, localizing and dividing with a high accuracy the sounds in the environment. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Spatial coherence measurements from two L-shape arrays in Shallow Water

In the Shallow Water’ 06 experiment, two L-shape arrays (ARRAY52 and ARRAY32) were deployed. The vertical line array (VLA) components of both ARRAY52 and ARRAY32 were exactly perpendicular to the direction of sound propagation. The horizontal line array (HLA) component of ARRAY52 was exactly perpendicular to the direction of sound propagation. The HLA component of ARRAY32 was exactly parallel to the direction of sound propagation. This configuration offered an opportunity to simultaneously analyze the three dimensional (3-D) spatial coherences: vertical, transverse horizontal and longitudinal horizontal. When the source and the receivers were below the thermocline, both the vertical and longitudinal horizontal coherence lengths in units of wavelength increased with increasing range and frequency. When the source was within the thermocline, the transverse horizontal coherence length in units of wavelength decreased with frequency and exhibited weak range dependence. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Adiabatic theory of particle trapping due to Coulomb crossing of one-dimensional betatron resonance

In the presence of space charge forces, synchrotron oscillations result in periodic modulation of the space charge tune shift, periodic crossing of betatron resonances, and particle trapping in resonance islands. The trapping effect for one-dimensional resonance is considered using classical perturbation theory and the “frozen core” approach to calculation of space charge forces. The beam losses and emittance growth are analyzed for arbitrary order resonance; the numerical results are given for the third-order resonance. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Fine structure of the strength function for β<Superscript>+</Superscript>/<Emphasis Type="Italic">EC</Emphasis> decay of <Superscript>160<Emphasis Type="Italic">g</Emphasis></Superscript>Ho (25.6 min)

A strength function for the β⁺/EC decay of the deformed ^160g Ho (25.6 min) nucleus has been obtained from experimental data. The fine structure of the strength function S _β(E) is analyzed. It is found to have a pronounced resonant structure for Gamow-Teller transitions. In S _β(E) with μ_τ = +1 the Gamow-Teller resonance has been observed to split into two components. This splitting is associated with anisotropy of isovector density oscillation in deformed nuclei. The β⁺/EC strength function for first-forbidden transitions is obtained in the Coulomb (ξ) approximation. It is shown that S _β(E) for first-forbidden transitions does not have a pronounced resonant structure. The text was submitted by the authors in English.